This remarkable resilience is due to stallholders, the customers who support them and the many people involved in organising the markets.
Veteran town crier and former markets co-ordinator Ken Ashford is one of those. He said the policy was to run the markets “rain, hail or shine” and people knew they could count on them being open.
The markets were launched in November 1987 by the Maryborough Promotions Bureau in response to the opening of the air-conditioned shopping centre at the corner of Alice and Bazaar streets.
Carmel Murdoch, who dresses in period costume to play the character “Mary Heritage” at the markets and fires the cannon with the town crier to signal the end of the markets at 1pm, remembers the time well.
“People left the central business district in droves to go and shop in the one, big shopping centre and people who worked in the CBD were concerned they were going to lose their jobs,” she said.
Business woman Loretta Bertoldo-Hyne is credited with being the first person to suggest setting up markets to draw people into the CBD so the shops would remain viable.
Thursday was chosen because it was the quietest day of the week for businesses and also it didn't clash with the Sunshine Coast's Eumundi Markets held on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Mrs Murdoch said some people didn't believe it would work but it was decided to run a trial with the help of council funding.
This month, proving the naysayers wrong, the 30th anniversary of the markets will be celebrated on November 30 with a pearl and heritage theme.
A nine-carat gold, diamond and pearl earring and pendant set, valued at $500 and donated by Myatt Jewellers, will be raffled, a morning tea will be held for invited guests and there will be enough birthday cake for everyone.
Mrs Murdoch worked in a pharmacy in the CBD when the markets first began and became involved with the “Mary Heritage” character in 1998.
She recalled some funny times, once when the original town crier, the late Reg Layde, was in the throes of doing a cry and his false teeth fell out.
Changes to the markets over the years included a move from Adelaide and Kent streets to Adelaide and Ellena streets 11 years after they started and a temporary move to the McDowell car park on the corner of Kent and Lennox streets in 2015 while Adelaide St was being refurbished.
The markets were run by the council for many years and transferred to Fraser Coast Tourism and Events in 2013.
Mr Ashford said the event used to have an annual Mary Poppins-themed market day which was so big one year that stalls wound around city hall and into Adelaide St.
“As it got bigger and bigger, it grew into the Mary Poppins Festival,” he said.
Another big occasion was the World Town Crier Championships held in Maryborough in 2005. So many people packed the CBD on market day from the shopfronts to the middle of the street that he had to clear a path for the town criers to parade down the centre.
“That is the largest crowd I've ever seen in town,” he said. “It was an incredible spectacle.”
Mrs Murdoch said initially the markets ran all day and until 9pm but that was too tiring for stallholders so the finishing time had gradually been brought back to 1pm.
“It was always a quality market, there was never anything second-hand allowed into it,” she said.
Mrs Murdoch said she had encountered people on holidays from around the world at the markets, some off yachts which sailed up the river and others who had seen a sign on the highway advertising the markets and driven in for a look.
Mr Ashford said market days were a social highlight for locals who came to the city centre to catch up with friends. And if you stood still on a corner for long enough, “the whole world goes past”.
“Someone from just about every part of the world has been through the markets,” he said.
Mrs Murdoch said the markets provided an economic boost because people from out of town “shop at the markets, they shop at the shops, they buy a meal, they meet their friends, they have a coffee, they do their grocery shopping, they fill their cars with fuel, they buy their kids' school books, their kids' clothes and their kids' shoes”.
She said as well as the regulars, well-known people sometimes strolled through the precinct including Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten this month during the State election campaign.
Mr Ashford said the markets were very much a fixture in Maryborough.
“The fact they've been going for 30 years means they've got a lot going for them, a lot of people support them,” she said.
Website: www.visitfrasercoast.com.au
Email: marketing@fcte.com.au
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