Market co-organiser Lilitu Babalon.
Coming back strong after the COVID lockdowns, the Good Earth Psychic Fair is making its return to Yass on Saturday the 30th of September, running from 10 am to 5 pm at the Memorial Hall.
With a broad range of stalls from jewellery to medium reading coming from locally and across the country, the fair caters to a wide crowd, with activities and workshops for anyone of any interest. With a one-off entry fee of $5, all activities are free, providing easy access to visitors. Market co-organiser Lilitu Babalon spoke to the Yass Valley Times about the coming fair, how it compares to previous years, what curious residents can expect, and what the fairs mean to local producers and stallholders.
While the same basic formula of previous years will apply, Lilitu promises new and exciting stalls for those who have attended previous fairs, pitching the event as “almost like a different fair” to previous years. “In terms of stallholders, there’s going to be a lot more people than last year. After the pandemic people were still a bit reluctant or they had new jobs and weren’t doing markets, but this year we have people coming from local, across NSW, the ACT and even Brisbane, we have a few new people”, said Lilitu.
“Because it is almost like a different fair to last year, we have a lot more local people coming and people coming back from other places that haven’t been in a while. If you came last year it’ll be a similar format in that the format hasn’t really changed. I think the workshops are always pretty good but it’s a lot more varied this year, there’s a few things we’ve never done before”.
Available stalls and workshops include popular favourites such as medium and tarot card readings, as well as jewellery stalls, herbal teas, craft objects, terrariums, art stalls including colour theory, books, crystals, and medium demonstrations, with the latter a new addition beginning at 11:15am so that “When people come along they know a bit more about what’s happening, because it can be a bit of a freaky thing for some people who don’t know about it”, said Lilitu.
The fair is an annual event in the Yass Valley, with fair organiser Lilitu setting up the event just over a decade ago, and is currently co-organised between herself and Natasha Duviale. The fair acts as publicity for stall holders, many of whom are local, and therefore an injection of interest into the local economy. With Yass fairs typically drawing in some 250 people at a time, the fairs provide an opportunity for stall holders to forge connections, as well as an overall injection into the town’s economy by drawing tourists from as far as Brisbane, with businesses such as cafes set to have a larger volume of customers on the day.
“Hopefully locals will get to know more about the other people in their town”, said Lilitu. The fairs are community-oriented and support various causes, with a raffle present on the day raising funds for a Braidwood animal sanctuary Deep Peace Trust. For those curious but unfamiliar with psychic fairs or the subject matter as a whole, Lilitu assures that there are activities and fun to be had for all, with all curious welcome to attend.
Griffin Palen
