November 8, 2017
Kingaroy’s former Makers, Bakers and Growers fresh food and craft markets will come back to life on Saturday, November 18 … in Nanango.
The weekly markets, which originally ran in Kingaroy’s O’Neill Square every Thursday, were established in late 2013 by the Growing The Burnett horticultural group.
They aimed to provide an outlet for the region’s small acreage farmers to sell their fruit, vegetables and home-made jams and chutneys; and for South Burnett craft workers to sell their wares.
But when Growing The Burnett decided to wind down in 2015, Sandy Towell from Boots’n Bulldust – Seeds of Hope stepped in to ensure the popular concept kept going.
She renamed the weekly get-together the Makers, Bakers and Growers Markets, but otherwise kept to the original intention of providing an outlet for locals to buy and sell fresh locally-grown foods, locally produced crafts and hard to get health food items.
In July 2016 the markets relocated from O’Neill Square to a new site opposite Kingaroy Shoppingworld and initially did well at the new location.
But when the Kingaroy Friendship Markets moved from the Senior Citizens Centre to a much larger site at Kingaroy Showgrounds towards the end of 2016, trade fell off sharply.
At the time, Sandy said Kingaroy didn’t appear to be big enough to support two markets and a decision to close Makers, Bakers and Growers was taken with great reluctance.
But now the markets have been taken under the wing of Creative Connections, and organisers intend to run them at 8 George Street, Nanango (opposite the Nanango Cultural Centre) every third Saturday between 7:30am and 11:30am.
Organisers told southburnett.com.au the date was chosen to avoid any conflicts with the Nanango Show Society’s long established Country Markets, which are held on the first Saturday of each month.
Stallholders who’d like to offer handmade, homemade and homegrown produce at the new markets should email Sue Paull.
