West Dublin Market Makes Move to Sunday Mornings

Illustration: Will Maclachlan

Before the switch to Sundays, the West Dublin Market was having a hard time filling the hall with vendors and patrons. Thanks to intuitive thinking by its steering committee, the market has attracted new vendors and more customers by moving to Sunday mornings.

The market, which has been operating at the West Dublin Hall for almost a decade, saw a change in leadership three summers ago. South Shore transplant Stefan Battiston was approached by vendors to take over as Market Manager when the previous leadership decided to step back. He accepted enthusiastically.

“Having a farmer market aligns with my worldview of having local community access to good products and other goods that are made by people in the community and sort of supporting people in the community and having, hopefully, a place where people can meet and hang out and run into people that they know,” says Battiston.

When vendors noticed that Saturdays were slow this season, they wondered if moving to a less competitive day would help. Bridgewater and Liverpool both also host Saturday morning markets, meaning vendors and customers have to choose where they want to support.

The market team decided to put it to the public. “We sort of put out some polls on social media, to see what people thought about it. And it was overwhelmingly positive feedback about switching to Sundays,” shares Battiston.

Weekly vendor Luke Rudderham of Rivercroft Regenerative Farm believes these smaller markets are important hubs for vendors and buyers alike. “These markets serve a loyal local community that may have issues preventing them from accessing the larger county markets as well as their want for local products made by people they know.”

Since making the change, the West Dublin Market has grown with new vendors who are typically busy on Saturdays with other markets. You can now find upwards of 9 vendors filling the hall and outside park on Sunday mornings from 10am-1pm. 

Battiston wants people from both sides of the river to mark the market on their calendars. 

“[The market is a place] to see friends and make new friends and have a sort of relaxing Sunday morning. We were kind of hoping to get people to make it like a routine part of their weekend to just like, ‘hey, I’ll see you at the market next Sunday.’”

The market is searching for a new brunch provider. If you want to serve up hot breakfast on Sundays, reach out to @westdublinmarketns

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