Spalding Christmas Market – which was called off at the weekend due to forecasted high winds – has been rescheduled for this Sunday (December 6).
The market was due to be held in the town centre last Sunday, with many town shops opening to coincide with it, but organisers contacted The Voice at 7pm on Saturday with the news.
On Tuesday Spalding town centre manager Dennis Hannant announced that the Christmas Market will instead go ahead this Sunday, from 10am to 4pm.
As well as stalls, there will be a fun fair and a band playing Christmas carols.
Mr Hannant said: “It was a great shame that the market had to be cancelled but I am delighted to say we have rescheduled for this Sunday.
“I made the decision to cancel after receiving a number of telephone calls and emails from stallholders who were querying whether the market was still going ahead as there was a Met Office amber storm warning for Spalding on Sunday. Winds were expected to gust from 25 to 45mph and Stamford and Bourne had already cancelled their Christmas markets.
“I discussed the issue with South Holland District Council’s Market Inspector, who deals with problems caused by bad weather on a regular basis and after considering the pros and cons, made the decision to cancel.
“We considered three main issues. Firstly, health and safety, whilst the district council’s market stalls are fairly heavy, they have been known to blow over in high winds and a number of stallholders were bringing their own gazebos, which would not be as robust as the market stalls.
“Obviously, stalls and gazebos flying around in high winds pose a significant danger to stallholders and members of the public.
“Secondly, inevitably a number of the stallholders would not have turned up because of the threat of high winds, which is understandable as they do not want their goods to be damaged and this would also have reduced the size of the market.
“And thirdly, the public would not have come to shop if the weather was bad, which is also understandable.”
Mr Hannant said his other two options were to “beef up” a normal Saturday market by putting extra stalls in Bridge Street, the Red Lion Quarter and Sheep Market car park or to cancel the market completely.
