Overview
In previous years, Queen Victoria Market's Winter Night Market has proved one of Melbourne's favourite midweek winter pastimes. But the long-running event unfortunately won't be entertaining anyone in 2021, with the event series getting the axe for the second year in a row. Yesterday, Wednesday, July 29, organisers announced that the Night Market's 2021 edition has been cancelled, citing the ongoing impact of COVID-19 restrictions. The move comes after the 2020 event was also canned due to the extended lockdown that shut Melbourne down for much of last winter.
In a statement, the QVM team revealed that they had hoped to push ahead with this year's Night Market, but that the ongoing impacts of the state's two recent lockdowns had crushed those plans. "The current crowd limits and ongoing delays have made it too challenging to proceed at this time, a theme sadly seen right across the Melbourne events industry," the QVM crew explained. Organisers acknowledged the cancellation news would be a huge disappointment to the many people involved, but assured punters that the decision to pull the pin had not been made lightly.
Prior to the pandemic, the event had become a firm fixture of Melbourne's winter calendar, running from June to August. It usually sees hordes of locals descending on the QVM's heritage sheds each week to cosy up with serves of mulled wine, listen to live tunes and eat their way through an array of global food stalls.
While the Winter Night Market has been scratched, QVM organisers took to Instagram to hint they'll be making up for the loss with some other fun offerings later in the year. "We are working on some exciting new events and activations that will continue to celebrate the vibrancy and culture of Melbourne and our Market, and we look forward to sharing them with you all soon," the team explained.
The Queen Victoria Market's Winter Night Market will no longer take place in 2021. For more details, see the QVM website.