By Adriana Ferrarin, FTG Village Market Project Officer,
Coonara Community House
The Ferntree Gully Village Market had its inaugural opening on Saturday 4 May. What started out as quite a foggy morning turned into beautiful sunshine as the market got into full swing.
Off with a big start, the market showcased approximately 25 stalls that included arts and crafts, fresh produce, community groups, free activities and live entertainment. The market was filled with children having fun with reptile encounters and face painting, adults enjoying the music and wares for sale, and the witnessing of community spirit with the Knox & District Woodworkers Club teaching woodworking skills to the market goers. The event was buzzing with music, smiles and people walking the streets.
It is estimated that the market brought over 1000 people into the Village, making it a successful event!
The Ferntree Gully Village Market is continuing to operate on the first Saturday of the month until October. We welcome you all to come down and visit the Village and the market to explore new and exciting stallholders, activities and entertainment each month.
A big thank you to all the event organisers, stallholders and market goers that made our first market so special and busy. We hope to see you all again at the next one on Saturday 1 June in the car park opposite the IGA!
By Matthew Payne
The inaugural (or I should say, returned) Ferntree Gully Village Market took place on Saturday 4 May. It was so wonderful to see the Village come to life and be bustling with people. Our usually sleepy Village turned into somewhere where everyone wanted to be; it was a huge success.
Everyone was so, so lovely. The store holders sold a plethora of amazing things. The highlight for me,
however, was that a number of the store holders spoke Spanish, my fourth language. Spanish isn’t a language that you hear (or at least that I hear) very often in the Village, so to have representation of the language – and the cultures that go with it – was remarkable!
The market didn’t just revitalise the Village for the day, it also created new connections between locals, and helped to foster cultural and linguistic connections.
