After more than four months of being held at the Lismore Showgrounds, the Lismore Car Boot Market is returning to its original home – Lismore Shopping Square.

This Sunday, January 3, stallholders will again set up stalls in the covered area underneath the Square, as they have done since the market first began in 1988.

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Lismore Car Boot Market organiser Marny Bonner said the move back to the Square would come with all the Covid safety precautions as required by NSW Health guidelines.

Covid safety changes

Under the one person per two metres square guideline, Marny said the market could accommodate a maximum of 4000 people.

“Part of our Covid safety plan is to count people in and out, so we will channel people in and out of the market at specific entrances at the rear and front,” she said.  

“We’ve also taken steps to maximise safety by widening walkways and the market will be more spaced out that it used to be.

“Stall holders are also aware of Covid strategies and will be adhering to them too.”

Showground venue

For Covid safety reasons, the Car Boot Market moved to the Lismore Showground on August 16, and Marny said the whole experience has been humbling and heartening.

“It was a new venue and we had to start the market again from scratch in a baptism of fire,” she said. 

“Everyone involved in setting up that first market was so good natured. It moved me to tears to see the sea of colourful gazebos set up and know that everyone really came together to make it work.

“The organisers of the Showground also bent over backwards to help stall holders and the community continued to show support for the market.”

Trial run

While the move to the Showground was always intended as a trial run to see how the market went, Marny said a number of factors lead to the decision to bring the market back to the Square. 

“It was a new and pleasant atmosphere at the Showground, but apart from the first market, attendance numbers in general were down, compared to numbers who came to the Square,” she said.

“The Showground location was a disadvantage for those with no transport and the sun and heat also took its toll. One of the stall holders went home with sun stroke after a 40 degree market day.

“The bottom line is that it was also more costly to run the market at the Showground. We needed to have a traffic management plan – and despite charging a $2 fee for parking, the expense made it very challenging.

“Lismore Shopping Square is the home of the car boot. It's reliable in any weather conditions and we are happy to be returning there and providing an opportunity for stallholders who can’t afford a gazebo and especially for those elderly craftspeople who have trouble with the heat.”

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