The past 18 months have been the most challenging at the Barossa Farmers Market, according to local grower, Mrs Marie Waechter, who has been a stallholder since its inception.
The Barossa Farmers Market is an iconic and valuable community asset, providing direct outlets to sale for grower and food producers regionwide for almost 20 years.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the buzz of the market has “died down” and has affected stallholder due to no tastings allowed inside.
Mrs Waechter said she hoped the market’s old charm would return.
“Community is everything and I love being able to connect with locals on Saturday mornings,” she said.
“We love chatting to everyone and that is just the best bit of the market.
“The friendships and community connections are brilliant, and that is one hing I can say one thing to anyone who hasn’t visited the market, come now.
“Barossa’s food producers need your support, but most importantly, our community is awesome and we all need that connection now more than ever.”
Ms Helen Hughes, market manager said navigating the constantly changing restrictions and ensuring the market was compliant was the single largest challenge.
“Given that the market is undercover, it meant that it fell into the same restrictions as restaurants and venues, so we had to be really flexible and adaptable to ensure we could still trade,” she said.
“Thankfully, the restrictions have eased a little now so we have been able to reintroduce seated areas in the shed for eating, which has been fabulous.”
Ms Hughes said finding and employing staff had been difficult.
“The dramatic change to hospitality industries in the past 12 months meant that finding and securing staff was hard, but the market would like to continue offering opportunities to young locals who are keen to get their foot in the door in hospitality,” she said.
“We have an ideal atmosphere for high school students to gain experience and skills, and we love to see our staff succeed.
“We also love to showcase local buskers, so we are always keen to talk to anyone interested in Saturday morning work.”
