• Four years after work began, Place de la Plaine has regained its fairground market.

  • It took a year of "adventures" between the end of the work and the return of the market.

  • Twenty fairground workers have not yet been able to find their place, a situation that should be resolved.

Sun and the day after Ramadan, there was a crowd this Tuesday for the return of the Plaine market in Marseille.

Four years that some 200 fairground people, temporarily moved to the Prado and Joliette markets since the beginning of the requalification work on the square, have been waiting for this day, which is constantly postponed.

Because the inauguration of the new Plaine formula dates back to May 2021, but it took another year of imbroglios to see the return of the market.

A deadline regularly postponed according to a political ping-pong between the metropolis and the town hall of which Marseille has the secret.

In the meantime, the showmen have slightly lost patience and expressed their dismay, blocking part of the city, as recently as last March.

A few day laborers on the floor and a request for "indulgence"

Main source of this conflict: at the end of the work, the plan provided for only 190 sites.

“We managed to climb to 223 places.

This remains less than the old configuration which allowed to go up to 310, ”points out Saya, vice-president of one of the four fairground unions.

"We are very satisfied with this work in good collaboration with the town hall", rejoiced Titin, president of a fair trade union.

After the usual celebrations, and if, this Tuesday, 223 sellers showed a broad smile behind their stalls of ready-to-wear, accessories or hardware stores, some, left on the floor, were not from the agrees.

Priority was given to those who already had an assigned space, as opposed to the “day workers”, about twenty in number, who filled the spaces left vacant.

A situation that should be resolved quickly, listening to elected officials and market officials, who have come to the scene.

"We are happy to be here after four years of absence and a few adventures", began Roland Cazzola, municipal councilor in charge of public space, for whom it is "a week of running-in" and asks " a little indulgence”.

As things stand, Barded, a day laborer, was one of those left behind: “I've been shopping with my mother for eleven years.

I was still in college when I came to unpack and now I have three children, ”he plagues.

“The final market plan was finalized on Friday.

For the time being, they are filling the places and noting the holes.

The day laborers will be placed next, according to their seniority,” Saya explains to him.

The new place finally in its final configuration

Admittedly, a handful of scenes of tension enamelled this morning.

But not enough to erase the newfound smiles of traders and onlookers.

Three young women have fun trying on sunglasses.

Further on, Martine rummages through summer dresses and exchanges pleasantries with the showman, whom she obviously knows a little about.

“I missed it and it brings the neighborhood to life.

Fadjila, who walks with her mother, already has several bags around her arm.

"We don't identify ourselves very well yet, but we look and if we flash, we have fun," she sums up.

No one here will come to regret the old square which was above all a car park.

If it's better?

“Pardi, of course”, comments Alain, this old Marseillais in a top hat and three-piece suit in the process of putting on a new belt while handing a 5 euro note to the seller.

"It's a place that is once again becoming a pleasure place", welcomed Pierre Benarroche, one of the three mayors of the sector on which the place depends.

“Finally, we are in the final configuration of this new place.

It's a new start, ”engaged his colleague Didier Jau.

And in this new start, the next step is to push the walls a little to find around twenty additional locations for this market which takes place three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday).

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  • Marseilles

  • Showmen

  • Square

  • Paca

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