Semaphore Street Fair

Held once a year last Sunday in November
The Semaphore Street Fair has successfully been running for the past few years but its future is in doubt and may or may not be around next year according to the Semaphore Road Traders Association, due to the local Council pulling the plug on funding. Considering it draws 15,000 to 20,000 people from all over Adelaide to the yearly event, it’s a big decision. Without going into the politics and for those of you interested readers wishing to delve deeper, go to their website
for full information.
Purely as an independent visiting the most recent Fair held on Sunday November 27^th 2011, every person and their dog was there on the glorious spring day that it was. Spanning from The Esplanade and ‘sort of’ spreading all the way down to Military Road, canopies flanked either side of the grassy median strip. A good variety of stall holders displaying their wares for sale, some quality handmade goods and quite a few non handmade as you get at every market, their products being browsed, stroked, admired and sometimes purchased. The atmosphere was buzzing as the day progressed and got hotter with more and more people arriving creating a river of bodies walking up and down the avenue of stalls.
Spoiler AIert! I must point out at this stage the centre of the market spread simply disappeared, rather than having a continuous wall to wall of market stalls up and down Semaphore Road, there was a break separating the market atmosphere into two sections! A peculiar marketing decision with the massive gap in the middle of Semaphore Road compared to previous years and it gave an appearance of less stall holders. To get from one section of the market to the other was a disheartening walk to what seemed like a mirage in the distance on a hot day.
Shop owners were having a field day especially food vendors and cafes as customers spilled out from their premises and after speaking with some stall holders not everyone was receiving market share. There was a handful of incidental stall placements in awkward spots receiving only a trickle of walking traffic come past their sites, compared to the hoards of passersby down the two main strips. On the day it appeared to be a success but market organisers need to ensure a fair and equitable event for all participants.