It was a sunny day with a cheery-eyed crowd when the Murrumbateman Village Markets were able to finally reopen their hypothetical doors for the first time in months.
Market organiser John Thorn said it’s been fantastic being back at the Murrumbateman Recreation Grounds again after a long hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“We’ve had so many people come up and say to us, ‘we’re really happy to get out’,” he said. “It’s a great sunny day and we haven’t had too many of them lately so it’s been terrific.”
John said it was probably their best crowd in a while despite a relatively smaller number of stalls than usual.
“We’ve had to exclude some [stalls] we need to make sure we’re selling mainly food,” he said. “We need to be a predominantly food market.”
The Community Stall run by John and the market committee had already sold over half of their heirloom tomato seedlings by 11am.
Locals who grow too many vegetables or fruits can sell their products at the Community Stall or John and his team can sell it for them, and it always does well John said.
If anybody’s interested, they can get more information from the Murrumbateman Village Markets’ website (https://www.mvmarket.com). 20 per cent of the proceeds go back into organising the fortnightly markets.
Can Assist member and Councillor Geoff Frost said they were really pleased to get back to the markets because the not-for-profit generally raises and spends about 75k to 80k a year.
“So you take six months of fundraising out of that all of a sudden and we’re looking a bit short because the cancer didn’t stop.”
But a short walk from the entrance stands Gabrielle Rogan’s stall, Urban Devine, which sells artsy plant holders.
“It’s great to be back out in the community connecting with people again,” she said.
Meanwhile, Enthusiation Alpacas, a farm in Murrumbateman specialising in yarn and alpaca products, was being picked clean by customers looking to purchase beanies and scarves for Christmas gifts.
Owners Deborah and Steve Hein said it’s nice to get some product moving and talk to people again. Many were interested in getting some alpacas themselves and had a pat of the two fluffy alpacas accompanying the pair.
“We’ve done quite well, quite a few beanies, quite a bit of yarns moved, which is nice,” Deborah said.
“It’s not about necessarily moving product or anything like that,” Deborah said. “It’s more visibility, to help people get educated about alpacas and how you can use the yarn.”
First-time stallholder Karen Whitcombe, owner of flower farm Wild Blooms, sells flower arrangements at the markets displayed artfully in jars.
After living on a property in Murrumbateman for the past three years this is her first season running the farm as a business.
Karen does deliveries and custom bunches with a wide range of summer flowers just coming into bloom.
Then if you were to duck into the Food Shed (masks on of course) you can meet Beth Reid of Beth’s Garden Delights.
Her stall’s name is spot on as she offers a large range of gourmet jams, jellies, marmalades and relishes made from locally grown produce.
“I’m very happy to be back at the market,” she said. “Now we’re all back and the weather’s wonderful.”
Beth has been in the jam game for nine years now and said she has it down to a fine art. Lemon crepe sauce, kumquat marmalade, and mulberry jam are some of her bestsellers.
But Beth recommends the rhubarb and rose geranium jelly “it’s absolutely delicious with a soft creamy cheese”.
Not to mention her line of adult products including vodka strawberry jam, gin and rhubarb, and whiskey marmalade.
“We make adult jams for certain times of the year like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Christmas time,” she said.
For dessert Bluefields Blueberry Farm offers blueberry ice cream and their youngest member, Elizabeth Kovacs, runs Little Blue Creations.
Elizabeth makes scrunchies and other hairpieces and began selling them at the markets at the beginning of the year.
“I realized that I really enjoyed making it and wanted other people to enjoy, I guess, seeing what I make.”
The next markets are this Saturday, November 13 at the Murrumbateman Recreation Grounds from 8am to 12pm.
By Brianna O’Rourke
