THOUSANDS OF people turned out for the opening of the Point Village Market, the biggest in the city since the closure of the Dandelion market in St Stephen’s Green 30 years ago.
The market, which surrounds the O2 venue at the Point, got off to a slow start on Saturday because of the rain, but picked up yesterday with an improvement in the weather. The market has dozens of food stalls, pitches for arts and crafts, clothes and holistic medicine. There was live music over the weekend provided by the Dublin Soul Festival and by Dublin duo Jezabel.
Market owner Harry Crosbie said he and the organisers estimated that 20,000 people visited the market over the weekend. He said he was “very pleased” with the reaction, but acknowledged that the market still needed developing.
He estimated they were up to 40 stalls short of capacity, with a preponderance of food stalls; and the Big Wheel, which was to be a centrepiece, had not yet arrived from the Netherlands.
“We were never going to get everything right the first time. We will be tweaking it to get it right, but the first turnout shows that there is a huge desire for a show like this in the city,” he said.