Smalltown and Dullbridge (SaD) Town Council Town Unimprovements Committee are tonight due to discuss an application to hold an Intergalactic Food, Drink Craft and Tat Marketfair on Smalltown Seafront. A similar application was turned down last year, after Squire Teflon’s close-friend and employer Mistress Bones, owner of the Newspaper and Tat Emporium, urged him not to support any competition and her fellow Smalltown Shops (SS) group leader, Lady Brassy of Easton-under-Water, lodged an objection supposedly from all members of the SS.
Lady Brassy told Councillors “The traders in Smalltown don’t want the competition from this event. August is the height of the tourist season in Smalltown and the best opportunity for traders to get their hands on money from visitors. We don’t want to share that opportunity by offering visitors and residents a chance to buy something different.”
Squire Teflon had agreed, saying “Although this might sound like a nice idea and could offer an interesting attraction to visitors and residents in Smalltown, it needs looking into in more detail. August is an important time of year for traders in the town and that makes this proposal unacceptable. Perhaps the organiser could consider holding it at a different time of year – say mid-February – when there’s no one around because the weather is awful.”
At the time, the organisers had submitted plans for a 12 day market but these were rejected with Councillors saying “It would be better if this was a much shorter event, perhaps spread over a long weekend, rather than 12 days.”
The BeFuddleds were unprepared for the backlash from residents who disagreed with the decision, citing the need for something different to attract both residents and visitors with the promise of something new for the Town.
This year, the organisers have taken the previous SaD Town Council objections into account and are hoping to run the Intergalactic Food, Drink Craft and Tat Market fair in August for only four days and envisage between 15-30 traders taking part, offering a range of hot food, fresh food, craft and tat, with an intergalactic flavour.
To further soften the blow and counter any other objections, the organisers will also offer four free trade spaces, including stall and electricity, to current Smalltown business owners who can then benefit from the event. Mistress Bones and Lady Brassy have already prepared their applications in case the BeFuddled Party Town Councillors agree to the event going ahead.
However, it is believed that Squire Teflon, having been attacked for seemingly always agreeing with the BeFuddleds (Teflon: I love BeFuddleds), will once again attempt to put the kibosh on the application, this time saying “I am objecting to this application purely to demonstrate that I can disagree with the BeFuddleds, but only when it suits my personal agenda.”
In addition, Teflon has used his position as the All-New-Yet-Unimproved Somerset Cuonty Council representative on the Smalltown Town Bored, which has the remit to look for ways to improve visitor numbers to Smalltown such as holding events, to urge his fellow members to object to the application. Lady Brassy, also a Town Bored member, has echoed his comments.
Will the BeFuddled TUMPS Committee members be able to overcome the objections in favour of getting off their fences and doing something new?