THE Dunsborough Markets are moving to the Palmer Wines property on Caves Road, adjacent to the tourist information bay – and there will be a major change.
They will be held on a Sunday morning, from 8am to 1pm, instead of Saturday, and will start operating at the new venue on January 15.
Winery owner Steve Palmer said the revamped markets would be called Farmer Fresh and he was looking at establishing a venue that catered for fresh and special rural products.
“The intention is to get those very small homegrown products – the lines that aren’t normally available; specialty grown or home crafted and home produced,” he said.
“The reason it will be on a Sunday morning is to create a family day, allowing people to leisurely stroll through the markets,” Mr Palmer said.
“Our observations are that on a Saturday morning everyone is very busy with children at sport and with the shopping, so forth, where a Sunday morning market we believe will give people the opportunity to take their time, enjoy the atmosphere and find something very interesting and different from the stall holders.
“Our interest in obtaining the markets was brought about because we were aware they were being sold.
“As regular marketgoers a few of the stall holders said to us they would like have the exposure to the tourists and traffic that come through town (Dunsborough) and felt that a position such as ours would allow them to get that exposure.”
Mr Palmer said the current site was becoming very congested with sporting teams and parking and was a little bit out of sight and out of mind as people who weren’t locals weren’t aware of the markets and didn’t visit them.
“The shire has approved for the licence to the markets to be transferred to this site, which is set near the winery, because of the access and car parking. We have abundant grassed areas for the markets and for the hundreds of cars if we happen to have a busy time as well as providing easy access to the goods people may wish to buy.
“We are calling the markets Farmer Fresh because there will be an emphasis on locally produced and grown produce and we believe a lot of these items will be organic or hydroponically grown and by specialists.
“This is a trend that the general public is looking for – to find something that is particularly well grown and also a little more exotic in the range that may not be normally found in a supermarket.”
Mr Palmer said charities could apply for a free allocated site. Anyone interested in setting up a stall should contact Craig Johnson on 0419 904 941.
Original Article from Busselton Mail .Thank you Rob Bennett for permission to reprint here.
Palmer Wines and Cellar Door Restaurant in Dunsborough are specialists in: