Many people consider the Kinvara Farmers’ Market, now in its seventh year, to be a fairly permanent fixture. It takes place in Market Square, Kinvara, every Friday from April to October 10am until 2pm.
More than 30 small local businesses turn up to sell not only their locally grown spuds and onions but also their handmade soap, soda bread, bagels, cheese, free-range eggs, fish, flowers cut and potted, greeting cards, organic salad, strawberries and woolly hats.
You could also find locally sourced Thai curry, Italian style breads, German bratwurst, Nutella crepes, simple homemade cakes and firewood. Grab a gourmet coffee, a triple chocolate brownie, find a bench, then sit back and enjoy a little old timey, rock, or blues, maybe cool jazz, certainly a splattering of pure trad; all from local and visiting musicians. Add a little sunshine and Kinvara Farmers’ Market is pure heaven.
But it is not a permanent fixture. This gem of a market is under threat again this year and it is left to the Roads Section of Galway County Council to deal with the issue.
Imagine Galway city’s St Nicholas market not knowing from one year to the next if it will have a home. Kinvara Farmers’ Market is forced to apply every year for a road closure to Market Square. Road closures are subject to everyone in the community being happy to have the road closed. But what are the chances of that?
One year it might be a landowner wanting 24 hour access through the Market Square. The next year it is business owners wanting Market Square to be preserved as a car park. Do we want our towns and villages to become car parks or do we want to maintain some form of community interaction?
Kinvara Farmers’ Market is a commercial but very sociable facility for only 28 of 365 days this year. It is true that Kinvara has car parking issues, especially in peak summer months, but closing down one of the best things about Kinvara, is not the solution.
The Notice of Intention for Kinvara Farmers’ Market road closure application was advertised last week Submissions are invited. If you would like to help in securing the future of this renowned sociable community facility email [email protected] in support of the application.
Or write to Director of Services, Roads, Transportation, Marine & General Services, County Hall, Prospect Hill, Galway. Right now or at the latest by no later than 3pm on tomorrow Friday March 13.
