End of the Green Flea markets?

Easter Saturday morning was spent visiting the Green Flea markets in Davies Park West End.  It’s a lovely market, full of good things to eat and drink and clearly packed to the gills with people filling up eco friendly bags with fresh produce.  Many of the stalls focus on produce, with a smattering of others selling deli products and assorted bits and pieces.  The food stalls are fantastic.  Lots of coffee and one great stall selling Hungarian pastries like lepeny and langos.  All delicious and cheesy. 

just one of the many produce stalls

Unfortunately the future of the market is unsure.  Recently the rights to hold the market in Davies Park were sold to a Sydney based company that holds the leases on other markets in Brisbane such as the Southbank markets.  If you haven’t seen both markets you might not be able to appreciate what makes one so different from the other, but basically the Southbank markets are very touristy, full of stuff you don’t need to buy regularly and don’t necessarily promote the community spirit that is so obviously present in West End. 

At the markets on Saturday I witnessed the full range of the local community (and a few ring ins) buying their weekly groceries, catching up with family, friends and stallholders, families on outings, people walking, biking and doing all things you would hope for in a community market (including a pointy eared elf serenading people with pipe music).  Clearly some of the customers were long term West End residents equipped with wheelie trolleys to cart away the beautiful fresh produce and baked goods.  Southbank is not that sort of market.  It is full of clothes, bags, and various other gimmicky things.  I know the only things I’ve bought there in the past few years have been cute badges from the badge stall, but it’s not a market to hold my interest for longer than about half an hour.  It’s definitely not a full morning outing.

sign at the stall where I bought my coffee

Sentiment from many locals and market attendees has ranged from the disappointed to the outraged, to others who don’t see what the problem is.  I guess my concern (even though I am not a regular attendee) is that existing stallholders won’t be able to continue on with new management.  Although the new management company Blue Sky Events says it has no plans to change the character of the markets, it is clear that current stallholders will have to contact new mangement for a place at the markets (see bottom of article).  So although they may have no particular plan for change, it is clear from the current state of the market that if the stallholders begin to change and others move in, then the tone of the market begins to change.

busy market crowds

I had a lovely Saturday morning in West End but it did leave me wondering whether my next trip there would be so good.  It seems such a shame that a market like this could potentially become a clone of a market we already possess.

Farmer’s market haul

I managed to visit the Bundall Farmer’s market on Sunday (I’d link to their site but it been under maintenance for at least a week).  Here’s a link to a list of a few markets on the Coast.  This market happens every Sunday morning at the Gold Coast Turf Club.  It isn’t huge but there is always a big selection of fruits, veges and a few other food type goodies.  I didn’t get any photos because it’s not a big site and still feel a little uncomfortable taking pictures of crowds in case someone notices and objects.  While food shopping at the markets I imbibed a double shot latte (just the thing on Sunday morning) and tried to decide what I wanted to eat.

Ferry Road market (in case you needed it spelled out in big red letters)

I also visited the Ferry Road markets, which are not so much markets as a conglomeration of posh shops and cafes that sell delicious food.  The good butcher there meant I could finally stock up on decent meat (I’ve been off buying supermarket stuff – when I see dried blood on the shelves it grosses me out). 

Here’s my haul: apples, lemons, spinach, quince, potatoes, yoghurt and home made pizza bases.

It looks healthy enough - until I turn the fruit into cakes

And we’re back….

So I’ve been thinking lately that instead of just keeping track of the great places I see overseas, I should be posting about the good things here at home. I’m also aware of the fact that I won’t live on the Coast forever and that it might be nice to have a tangible record of my time here.  In keeping with this idea, here is my first post of this new and hopefully improved blog.

I visited Mt Tamborine over the weekend and managed to make it to their Sunday market.  The big one is held in the showgrounds on the second Sunday of the month and has a variety of stalls ranging from cute hats and bags to local fruit and veges to local art and crafts.  It’s a lovely way to spend an hour or two on a sunshiny (yeah it’s a word) Sunday.  I bought some delicious sounding Rhubarb and Strawberry jam, some always yummy Rosella jam and a bag of hopefully crisp Granny Smiths.  I’m thinking that the apples might make their way into a cake of some sort during this week.  The picture below shows some of the colourful bougainvilleas on sale.

Now that I’m more familiar with the roads up on the mountain I do enjoy just driving about to look at little things tucked away behind the trees.  I stopped off at a nice art gallery/children’s bookstore/cafe, The Secret Garden.  They always have beautiful art and sculptures for sale and a good selection of picture books. 

 I also stopped at one of the many lookouts to take in the view and take some pictures.  The gallery walk in Eagle Heights was busy as always and a few of the shops had changed since my last visit.  I took a quick walk in the Joalah National Park but didn’t have time this visit to do the longer walk again.  The walk was lovely though and the trees are beautiful.  I think I’m going to have to go back sometime when it’s not so hot.  I’d like to do some more of the walks again, and although there were many enthusiastics souls out walking today, I’ll be waiting for the cooler weather.