On any weekend, somewhere on the Coast, a local market is taking place. From Gympie to Caboolture, west into the ranges and up into the Mary Valley, local people are buying and selling local products.
In this era of fast-paced consumerism, with its centrepiece firmly based within the great Americanised shopping malls, many Sunshine Coast residents are looking for something different.
How often can you stop and have a friendly chat to the shopkeeper? Too busy to talk, or just not interested, they want your money and that’s about where the relationship starts and ends.
The smell of fast food, the mix of shopping-mall music and the pumping, almost throbbing sounds of the, ‘buy now and then get out of my shop’, kind of music. From the colours on the walls, the music to the lighting, it’s all there to entrance the shopper, stimulate your senses and make you do one simple thing – reach into your pocket and whip the plastic card out. This Christmas, expect every trick in the book to attract moth-like shoppers to the bright lights.
Sue attends the Cooran Eco Markets and sells her fruit trees on the first and third Saturday of each month. Image greghardwick.com.au
Yes the temperature is cool in the unnatural cocoon of the mall, but human contact, local products and a sense of community, is often absent.
Visit your local markets on the weekend and it’s a very different story. In the elements and out with your local community everything appears more relaxed. It’s an opportunity to catch up with friends, to meet new people, eat something fresh and perhaps even learn something.
Dozens of markets are held on the Coast. One of the most famous is of course at Eumundi. But you don’t have to travel far to find one in your town, near your suburb, with local people selling local products they have grown or made.
Sue attends the Cooran Eco Markets and sells her fruit trees on the first and third Saturday of each month. “It’s important that the trees are adapted to local conditions. That’s why we grow and sell our own. It makes sense to buy local products,” she says.
Nearby is Kerry, with his head down making one of his leather bracelets, as his wind chimes move gently beside him.
A short stroll and Robyn is talking with a friend, Kylie, about her local handmade ceramics. She’s proud of what she does and it shows as she displays some of her latest creations.
And in the background, slightly up the hill, Terri and Brett provide some gentle sounds in the shade of a large fig. Everyone is smiling, happy and always ready for a friendly chat. It feels like that thing Margaret Thatcher once said didn’t exist – a community.
This Christmas, why not free yourself from long drives to the shopping mall and get out there and visit your local markets. You will be pleasantly surprised and a whole lot more relaxed.
Now it’s time I checked out those fine looking chickens over there …
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