Welcome to Bellingen Community Markets 16 March 2024

Here we are again, ready for another fabulous market and celebration. Thanks for joining us and have the best day.

The weather is a little hit and miss of late. Sun, rain, cool, hot, muggy!  As an all weather market, we still go ahead with a bit of rain. We only cancel if the grounds are unsafe, which they are not. 

We have a wonderful variety of products and people joining us along with cool music with Juicebox  and the Kalang River Forest Alliance are our community group and will be shaking the buckets at the gates.

Thanks for reading all our newsletter to get the lowdown as a stallholder and exciting news.

Have a fabulous market day

Kind regards

Kaz Selbie

Bellingen Community Markets Manager

 

MUSIC

Juicebox

COMMUNITY GROUP 

Kalang River Forest Alliance

Kalang River Forest Alliance‘s (KRFA) aim is to protect the Headwaters of the Kalang, Bellingen and Nambucca Rivers form the imminent industrial scale logging proposed to begin last month. They could move in anytime now and they plan on being in there for years!

This forest destruction with 40 tone machines employs few people and runs at a loss according to forestry corporation’s own website. Yet it would destroy so much.

This country has important cultural values for the Gumbangyirr people, who have not been consulted.

Our water security is dependent on these intact, healthy, unplanted forests, protecting our steep, highly unstable, catchment soils. !n 1992, in the same Oakes forest, 88 thousand tones of soil slipped into the Bellingen River after logging. This is our drinking water!

These pristine forests are a biodiversity hotspot and are homes to many endangered species. These include such plants as the silky milk pod, the scrub turpentine and the rusty plum. Large breeding colonies of koalas, greater gliders, yellow bellied gliders,  potaroo, spotted tailed quolls and rufus scrub birds live there. Habitat loss is the main cause of extinction apart from the escalating climate change which these forests help mitigate.

We are all volunteers, no one is paid. Funds go towards promotion and keeping eyes and ears in the forests so we can call in the forest protectors, if we need to. We all need to let our State Government know that we need this area permanently protected by implementing the Great National Koala Park proposal or at the very least The Headwaters Reserve Proposal and ceasing native forest logging.

Don’t miss the upcoming gathering to save our forests, one week after Bellingen Markets, on Sunday 24 March 9.30am-1pm at Bellingen Park. 

Please support KRFA at the gates as they welcome you with a friendly smile to Bellingen Community Markets. 

Market day procedures 

It’s important you have read and agreed to our stallholder terms and conditions and follow the below market day procedures. Your cooperation will hep us all have a smooth and enjoyable start, day and finish.

Please…..

• Read our “stallholder’s terms & conditions” ? that you agree to when booked.
• Listen to directives of BCM crew. Be patient, flexible, friendly and respectful.
• Arrive at the correct time at the right gate.
• Permanents enter at 6.30am and casuals at 6.45am.
• Unless prior notice, anyone arriving after 7.30am may loose their position.
• Remain quiet when lining up in morning to consider sleeping residents.
• When in the park, do not reverse and please drive one way.
• Always drive at walking pace and NEVER drive on football oval.
• When entering, drive in and park close to your stall so other cars can pass.
• Quickly unload and take your car out before returning to set up.
• The above helps alleviate traffic congestion.
• Park a couple of streets away so your customers can park closer.
• Cars must be out of park by 8am and no cars to stay in the park unless agreed with Manager.
• Fees are collected at 10am so please have the correct change ready. Don’t rely on sales to pay your fee.
• We are a plastic free market, so no plastic products and nothing covered in plastic. All eating utensils must be biodegradable.
• Stallholders must take home their own rubbish and don’t use out skips bins.
• This is especially important for food vendors who take home their food scraps, for their green bin or compost.
• Smile for the camera. Photos are often taken and uploaded to Facebook after the market.
• Gates open again at 2.30pm for cars to enter for pack down. Do not enter before this.
• Drive at walking pace.
• All stalls in E and F section must line up on west side of Ford St at 2.30pm, so you don’t cross a busy St.
• Report any incidents to your section coordinator or Manager.
• Be out of the park by 4pm latest.
• NO DOGS ALLOWED
• Have the best market day and thanks for your support and cooperation.

Please don’t park on top of resident driveways and park a couple of streets away

Local residents deserve your consideration by not parking on top of their driveway and be considerate of your customers and park a couple of streets away so they can park closer.  It’s challenging at the best of times trying to get a park at our market.

Save our forests

Put the date in your dairy for this important cause. A gathering at Bellingen Park on Sunday 24 March 9.30am – 1pm to save our forests ! Marches are happening in various places over Australia on the same day,  to emphasise the vital message to government and others – save our  forests.  For more information click below links: 

https://marchforforests.org/event/gumbaynggirr-country-bellingen/

https://facebook.com/events/s/march-for-forests-bellingen/1352049928835993/?mibextid=RQdjqZ

https://volunteer-saveforests24324

 

 

Thanks for reading our newsletter and see you soon.

 

Bellingen Community Markets…  not just a marketplace but a great place to be !