MARY Portas will be visiting the award-winning town of Market Rasen in the coming weeks.
Sarah Lambelle, of Mr Big, the Market Rasen Business Improvements Group, said the shopping guru had confirmed she would be making an appearance within a couple of weeks – although a date is yet to be set.
The town of Market Rasen was one of 12 selected from more than 370 applications to become a Portas Pilot town, which saw £100,000 being granted to a team of volunteers to revitalise a nearby high street.
Up to now, members of Mr Big have met the business guru twice.
And the "exciting" news of her next planned trip comes hot on the heels of the town being named as Britain's Best Small Speciality Market of 2013 by the National Association of British Markets Authorities (NABMA).
As reported, the accolade puts the town among a handful of locations recognised for pioneering local entrepreneurship by hosting and managing outstanding markets.
Sarah said she believed the key to their success was their "uniqueness" in being able to serve Lincolnshire foodies with artisan products in the Georgian Market Place and "fantastic" arts and crafts in the Festival Hall.
She said: "Every market is given a theme – for example, on Saturday we had Love, Love Me Do, with Valentine's Day coming up and, at the end of our Plank festival, we have a Mad March Market.
"It makes it a lot of fun."
There are ten themed extravaganzas planned for 2013 running on the first Saturday of every month.
Sarah also said that being equidistant from Grimsby and Lincoln attracted many regional visitors and that free parking in the town was also a welcome bonus.
Saturday also saw the launch of Plank 2013, which will see the town transformed into an art gallery for four weeks, with diverse exhibitions by independent artists from Lincolnshire.
The exhibition is being supported by the Arts Council for England and will see works being displayed in a range of unusual places and spaces to create an arts trail through the town.
Locations including empty shops, the railway station, market place, high street shop windows, pubs, cafes, schools and churches, with a range of creative workshops taking place alongside.
Sarah added: "The Plank 2013 title derives from the Anglo Saxon word for Rase, meaning planks.
"It also means 'bridge', so it was the perfect name for a festival that will create links within the community and its rural hinterland."
Find out more
The festival runs until Friday, March 1 and includes a large number of half-day workshops. More Wolds News on page 23