District 18 News
Written by: District Licheng
2021-03-29 15:06
Last update date: 2021-03-29 15:06
In recent years, the culture of street hawking has gradually disappeared, and the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the economy. The Alliance for Supporting the Grassroots Markets organized a market festival with the theme of "the market structure community". The opening day was held at the bottom of the Mei Foo Bridge yesterday (28th). And touring in multiple districts in the next 3 months.
The Coalition to Support the Grassroots Markets pointed out that due to strict social distancing under the epidemic, the number of stalls is reduced in disguise. It is hoped that the government can open up idle land for non-profit organizations to apply for fixed or holiday market purposes, so that more grassroots can be self-reliant.
Yesterday, the market festival held at the bottom of Mei Foo Bridge mainly sold grass-roots hand-made accessories and home-made health foods. There was a community economy themed exhibition in the venue, showing that the grassroots of Hong Kong are involved in the community economy and have difficulties in starting a business.
(Picture provided by the Alliance of Supporting the Grassroots Market)
Yesterday, the market festival held at the bottom of Mei Foo Bridge mainly sold grass-roots hand-made accessories and home-made health foods. There was a community economy themed exhibition in the venue, showing that the grassroots of Hong Kong are involved in the community economy and have difficulties in starting a business.
In the next 3 months, market festivals will be held in multiple districts.
Clare, who has a son, is one of the stall owners. He used to sell handmade products at the market and make snacks for banquets to make ends meet.
After becoming pregnant, Clare took care of her son full-time. After the epidemic, she returned to the market to help her family. However, she frankly admitted that food tasting services could not be provided due to the epidemic prevention measures, which had an impact on the business.
Zhang Yan, spokesperson for the Alliance of Supporting Grassroots Markets, pointed out that this year several applications have been made for idle government land to hold markets. However, there has been a lot of resistance under the epidemic. For example, this year's venue application lasted for nearly half a year, but it was confirmed only one week before the event. The venue can be rented, so that the organizer does not have enough time to promote the market. Fortunately, the Mei Foo venue is very crowded, with middle-class families and foreign domestic helpers and other different customer groups, so the stall owner's business is stable.
Zhang Yan said that this year’s market festival has received a lot of enquiries from stall owners, and many of them are unemployed for the first time, reflecting that during the economic downturn, the market has brought many residents low-cost and low-threshold entrepreneurial opportunities. Help alleviate the unemployment problem.
However, in response to the epidemic restrictions, each stall must be separated by a social distance of 1.5 meters, reducing the number of stalls by more than ten stalls compared with the past, which in a disguised form reduces the chances of the grassroots to shift stalls.
The organization hopes that the government will refer to the experience of Mei Foo Farm Market and Teng Lung Market, open up idle land for non-profit organizations to apply for fixed or holiday markets, and set up a market seed fund to allow support groups to apply for similar "poverty alleviation markets."
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