At the back end of 2010 Dunbar erupted into a war of words – some people were for a planning application for a garden centre situated on Spott Road and others against. From these arguments it became clear that a lot of people in Dunbar have a lot of passion for Dunbar. A series of public meetings took place and one of the things to come out of these meetings is the Dunbar Arts, Crafts and Produce Market.
A group of interested people met at Hallhill and set about trying to get a Christmas market to take place on the day of the Christmas lights switch on. From the start we were up against it – both in terms of time and the amount of red tape that seemed to spring up every other day. Through perseverience all worked out well and on the 5th of December a town market was held on Dunbar High Street consisting of 16 stalls selling soap, wood craft, various fish products, cakes, more soap, winter clothes and much more. The Christmas market was a great success and turn out was well above our expectations.
As we moved into 2011 we clarified the aims of the market. We wanted the focus to be on local stall holders, selling local products and also for the market to add to the high street.
So where are we now?
Well by the time we got ourselves organised it became apparent that a spring market just wasn’t going to be feasible. Thankfully Pipe Band day has presented itself as an alternative. Should everything go to plan you’ll be able to browse through around 20 stalls. In addition we’re looking to have another street market during Civic Week – on a similar scale to the one we had at Christmas. From these 2 markets we’re hoping to build and grow. While we don’t currently have any solid plans for the Autumn we’re very keen to repeat the success of 2010′s Christmas market.
In the meantime please keep checking out this website for any further information or if you’re feeling all David Cameron’s Big Society – then come along to one of our meetings – Mondays 6pm, Hallhill.