Angelic approach to market safety

Published on 06 August 2020

An angelic presence will watch over market-goers to help ensure they stay safe at this Saturday’s inaugural Tasmania’s Own Market.

The interim market is a temporary replacement for the much-loved and widely renowned Salamanca Market, which remains suspended due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The smaller, modified market comprises Salamanca Market stallholders in a defined market zone that can accommodate up to 500 people at a time.

“This market might be smaller, but there will be no reduction in the quality of Tasmanian-designed and made products on offer,” Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said. “While our borders remain closed, this really is a market by Tasmanians, for Tasmanians.”

With the health of stallholders, market crew and shoppers in mind, a team of Safety Angels will remind market-goers of safety requirements, such as physical distancing.

“It’s easy to forget about that 1.5m distance when you spot the perfect gift or personal treat while browsing the market,” Cr Reynolds said. “That’s where our Safety Angels will float in to offer a friendly reminder.”

Safety Angels are just one element of the market’s comprehensive health protocol, which also includes designated entry and exit points, hand sanitiser stations, monitoring of patron numbers and preferred contactless payment.

“Under the current restrictions, a maximum of 500 people can be inside the market at any given time and that includes stallholders,” Cr Reynolds said.

“As this will be quite different to past market experiences, we do kindly ask that anyone attending the market follows the guidelines provided.

“If there happens to be a queue to get into the market, that presents the ideal opportunity to go for a walk around Salamanca and support one of the many other local businesses that have also been doing it tough by, for example, grabbing a cup of coffee at a café.”

Thanks go to Telstra for providing the market team with mobile phones for use in monitoring patron numbers via a real-time gate counter app that can be updated live from every entry and exit point.

Tasmania’s Own Market will operate at Salamanca Place between Montpelier Retreat and the Silos this Saturday from 8.30am to 1.30pm. Eighty Salamanca Market stallholders will participate, with a further 80 stallholders to operate the following weekend.

To see which stallholders will be onsite and more information about what to expect with the interim market arrangements, visit salamancamarket.com.au.