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BREAKING: Orange FOOD Week Night Market makes last-minute venue change
March 23, 2023
By Peter Holmes
Orange FOOD Week organisers have been forced to shift the opening night market on Friday (March 24, 2023) from Robertson Park due to concerns over inclement weather.
The signature event, which draws large crowds each year, has been moved to Naylor Pavilion at Orange Showground.
Fifty stallholders were informed by organisers on Wednesday night of the decision to shift the event from being outdoors to indoors.
“We just looked at the forecast yesterday and it’s not looking great today or tomorrow,” FOOD Week president Charlotte Gundry told The Orange News Examiner early on Thursday morning.
“If we do get the rain that is forecast it will make it very wet underfoot. It would make set-up difficult, and from a consumer experience - not that great.
“This pavilion gives us flexibility so that if it rains people can be undercover. It’s the sensible and rational decision.”
She said that without the availability of Naylor Pavilion and support from Orange City Council “we’d probably be looking down the barrel of postponing or cancelling the event altogether”.
“This would obviously have huge cost implications for us as an organisation, but also for the individual stallholders who have been preparing for tomorrow night, and all the other contracted businesses we engage to execute this event. I think all round it’s a very good outcome.”
Bad weather had only impacted the Orange FOOD Week Night Market a few times over the years, Gundry said, including a postponement and a cancellation.
She said there was plenty of parking at Naylor Pavilion, and that she had made contact with Orange Buslines about running shuttles from the Orange Visitors Centre.
“It’s only a possibility; I need to get a quote and work out what the practicalities are.”
The markets are on at Naylor Pavilion at Orange Showground on Friday from 5:30pm to 8:30pm.
You can keep up to date with the latest on the event here.
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