A NEW market that will feature up to 100 stalls and encourage young artists to sell their work to the public looks set to become a new weekend feature in St Ives. The Sunday market, which is being promoted as an art and lifestyle event, is due to be launc

A NEW market that will feature up to 100 stalls and encourage young artists to sell their work to the public looks set to become a new weekend feature in St Ives.

The Sunday market, which is being promoted as an art and lifestyle event, is due to be launched on May 6, occupying the Quay and the town's ancient bridge.

Alistair Theobald, St Ives town centre manager, said that he hoped between 75 and 100 stalls would take part as well as several street entertainers.

However, to ensure the Sunday market goes ahead, Mr Theobald needs to raise another £17,000 in sponsorship from local businesses to get the project going.

"The key aim will be to provide an atmosphere that shoppers and visitors can enjoy," he told The Hunts Post. "St Ives attracts visitors for a Sunday day out but we don't exploit this opportunity."

To help entertain the visitors the market will also include people in the stocks having fruit and vegetables thrown at them for charity and young artists taking stalls at boot-sale type prices to boost the start of their careers.

The market will also help St Ives attract people from the guided bus which will begin travelling through the town when the project is completed in 2009.

Mr Theobald said the market would help meet the challenge presented by the guided bus by transforming a potential threat into an opportunity with high profile shopping along the route.

He said: "The stalls will not sell anything which clashes with products sold on the town's traditional markets on the first and third Saturday of each month. St Ives will have had its market town charter for 900 years in 2010. This initiative celebrates the town's history.

"Markets have adapted over the centuries to meet the changes of shopping trends. But, if anything, this kind of approach is more in keeping with markets from medieval times when crowds would be entertained by musicians, dancers and jugglers."

The project has received a grant of £5,225 from the East of England Development Agency and the group, Action for Market Towns. A major advertising campaign is being planned, including advertisements on buses in Cambridge and Peterborough.

INFORMATION: To sponsor the market or run a stall at the market, contact Alistair Theobald on 01480 464267 or e-mail tcm@goingtostives.info