IT TOOK a worldwide pandemic, and then torrential rain to keep it away, but the Yamba River Markets will burst back to life this weekend.

“We’re hanging for it to happen again,” markets manager Gary Brisbane said.

“The last time we had a market was in February and we’ve had an overwhelming response from stallholders keen to come back to us.

“It look like the weather will be nice with no rain forecast so we’d encourage everyone to come down.”

Mr Brisbane said there had been a lot of work behind-the-scenes in the hiatus, including extensive work providing a COVID safe environment.

“We’ll have people at the entrances with hand sanitiser, and there’ll be lots of signage to help people keep socially distant,” he said.

“We have a few Queensland stalls and others that won’t be able to come because of restrictions, which will allow us to use the space for people to queue beside food businesses rather than waiting out in the lane.

“We have COVID plans for the markets in general as well as safety plans for food because we have tables and chairs.”

Mr Brisbane said there would be some new faces, including some new local food vendors for people to check out, and hoped that people would support the market which had become a staple of the Yamba community.

Local band Sandy Feat will provide the entertainment for the day.

The markets are located at Ford Park, Yamba and run from 9am-2pm.