Sun and supporting local
Summer is (mostly) on its way and market season is upon us. We’re lucky to live in a town full of creative and talented people, offering artisan wares. Many of the markets in the region offer handmade goods or food straight from the source, meaning you’ll get to pick up something unique.
There are a lot of markets in the region, but highlights include the Queenstown Market on the lakefront, which is on every Saturday and a couple of Fridays a month. There’s also Remarkables Market at the Red Barn, Arrowtown Market and the occasional Makers Market at Country Lane. Supporting these local pop ups means supporting real people in our community – and the opportunity to pick up some funky items, too.
“There’s such a great arts culture here that we wanted to embrace that more,” Charlie Archer at the Makers Market says. They’re one of the newest markets on the block, running sporadically at Country Lane. They’ve got about 50 stallholders on their books with 20 or so showing up each market.
A regular at some of the markets around town is Jessica Simpson. Her clothing brand, So Sloe, is going against the fast fashion movement and providing one-of-a-kind garments. She’s created custom patterns for her jumpers and hats, sewing each item lovingly by hand. All of her wool beanies are made using 100% New Zealand Wool, however as Simpson explains, there isn’t much fabric production happening in Aotearoa, so while she purchases her fabrics here, most is unfortunately made overseas – she seeks out local wherever possible.
“It’s a good way for some of the local talent to get showcased. It’s such a cool little market and the fact that everything there is handmade by the person at the store means there’s no confusion about where things are coming from, it’s really transparent,” Simpson says.
Queenstown Market has been in operation for more than 35 years. Situated along the Lakefront, it’s home to inspiring clothing designers, potters, jewellers, knitters, wood artisans, soap makers, photographers, and the list goes on! All products here must be crafted by stallholders – a wee hub for budding and established arts and crafts enthusiasts.
It was started as a way of people making a living in Queenstown as an alternative to other things, and giving people an opportunity to sell to the public without having to be a retail store themselves. They’ve got people who have been attending for 30-plus years, with a huge range of ages and a big diversity of wonderful products.
The Remarkables Market is on a mission to be New Zealand’s first zero-waste market. If you head along to the Red Barn on Saturdays, you’ll find reusable cups, mugs, bowls and plates as well as a proper composting system. During winter there were five events, but summer is when these markets really shine, happening every Saturday. They have stallholders offering crafts, artisan foods, jewellery and arts as well as musicians performing weekly.
Arrowtown Market is held on Sundays under the picturesque old trees on the Library Green and has evolved from its early days in 2017 as a Farmers’ Market. Sarah Auld at the markets explains that their committee is made up of vendors, which is all voluntary. Pop by and you can enjoy live music, a bite to eat and a relaxing vibe.
“We are, what we like to call, a boutique market,” Auld says. “We are a smaller number of stalls and that’s just purely to do with the fact that we operate in a heritage area of our town. Being right in the heart of Arrowtown, there’s quite a lot of covenants and restrictions that are placed on how big we can be – but we like to celebrate the fact that we are small, everyone that comes along is handpicked and we don’t double up on things.”
The markets and stallholders mentioned each have a presence on social media, so if you’d like to find out more do a quick Google or Facebook search and you’ll be able to find additional info.
