Eat Street

Have you eaten a cronut yet? It’s a cross between a croissant and donut, very tasty my daughter tells me. She found it in Eat Street. Eat Street markets in North Shore Brisbane. When I visit other cities I speculate what ideas could transfer to Rockhampton. The thousands of people, simplicity of the set up, lights, tremendous variety of international food and entertainment got me wondering if Eat Street could work in Rockhampton. Probably not every Friday and Saturday night like it operates in Brisbane due to the smaller population, but maybe 4 times a year! If only 4 times a year most of the infrastructure needed would have to be already established to keep set up costs low. In Eat Street most of the mini restaurants are in modified shipping containers, it just adds to the atmosphere of the place, picture an industrial look Asian food night market. Could it work at the Rockhampton Showgrounds? It would be away of utilising the infrastructure within the Showgrounds more often. There is space for parking and if the eateries were to close at 9.30pm, the disturbance to nearby residents could be tolerable. Timing of the 4 events would be crucial to the success of the markets, especially in getting them established. Avoiding clashes with other major events and ensuring the availability of people to operate the large number and variety of mini ‘slow food’ restaurants needed to make it a unique night out. The Saturday night after the Rocky Show concludes could be an ideal time to launch it? The Show committee could encourage selected eateries there for the Show to stay an extra night, some of the infrastructure set up for the Show could be utilised and Show patrons made aware of the extra food focussed night. There would obviously be more involved in setting this type of event up and a workable relationship with Health and Food Inspectors required. If it could be pulled off though it would add to the Rockhampton social event calendar, be a vehicle to launch new businesses and products (maybe a locally brewed boutique beer), expose local musicians and artists as well as underscore how multi-cultural Rockhampton has become. An idea to discuss over a meal maybe!