Stallholders Frances Carlton and Cathy Carroll at the markets.
Camera IconStallholders Frances Carlton and Cathy Carroll at the markets. Credit: Supplied/Robin Kornet

Sunday markets reach their 30-year milestone

Staff ReporterMelville Gazette

This year, the Melville Rotary Club celebrates 30 years of operating the markets at the Melville Plaza in Bicton.

‘It’s a big achievement, one of our most successful events,’ club representative Kareena Ballard said.

The markets started in 1983 to raise funds for specific community projects run and supported by the Rotary Club.

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‘It was realised that substantial fundraising was necessary if the club could achieve its ambition of supporting its various projects at a significant level,’ she said.

‘Raffles and stalls could not produce the necessary funding.’

This financial year, the markets have raised about $120,000, used for foodbanks, shelters, sailing for the disabled program, water wells in Tanzania and medical aid.

‘Anywhere between 100 and 240 bays are used each week by stall holders and thousands of visitors come down.’

Ms Ballard said the markets became so popular that vendors were sleeping in their cars, to be guaranteed car-parking bays.

‘It became a victim of its own success at one stage’