Smaller Taste of Tasmania on cards as stallholder numbers tumble

STALLHOLDER applications for this year’s Taste of Tasmania are down 38 per cent on last year.

Taste of Tasmania,picture of crowds

STALLHOLDER applications for this year’s Taste of Tasmania are down 38 per cent on last year, as the council attempts to make the festival cost neutral.

The Mercury has obtained a copy of a confidential Hobart City Council memo that indicates the council has received a total of 71 applications requesting a total of 85 sites.

This compares with 114 applications seeking 134 sites last year. Lord Mayor Sue Hickey confirmed this year’s event would see up to 68 traders, compared with 74 last year and 68 in 2013.

Successful applicants will be notified next week.

The council voted earlier this year to make the Taste a cashless event and to adopt the Commonwealth Bank’s wireless system via touchscreen tablets for transactions.

With an aim of making the Taste cost-neutral, stallholders will pay 10 per cent of their turnover to council and site fees will not change.

The cashless model is a trial and will be reviewed at the end of the event.