Dannevirke market thrives in sunshine

Greer Feck with her l candles and melts made as a business studies school project.

The sun shone, all the stall spaces were taken up by vendors from all around the southern North Island, there was a steady flow of customers - what more could a market organiser want?

Italia Gooding has been running the Saturday Market in the Home Industries Hall at the A&P Showgrounds for four months, after taking over from Jackie Check who had done a wonderful job resurrecting the market, pioneered and run for many years by Daphne Miller.

Jenny Humphreys and Italia Gooding with their stalls at Saturday's Dannevirke Market.

With Jackie wanting to retire, Italia, who had helped Jackie for over a year, saw the need and volunteered to take it on with the help of friend Jenny Humphreys of The Craftery.

“I’d like to help small local businesses thrive,” says Italia and so far it has been successful, this winter being better than the last with all stalls fully booked and new ones every month. There were four new businesses on Saturday.

One of them was a 15-year-old Freyberg High School student, Greer Feck from Dannevirke, who created a business selling wax candles and melts which she made and marketed herself very successfully.

“I just looked up the internet to find how to make them and got a few ideas from other competitors,” she said.

Her business studies teacher gave her an NCEA Level One Excellence for it and Canteen was grateful for the donation of 20 per cent of Greer’s profits.

Barbra Taylor of Hastings with her home-made Taylor's Way quilts and wall hangings.

There was a wide variety of items for sale at bargain rates ranging from local kindling to Electric Wood Art from Ōtāne, locally made jewellery to homegrown and made woollen jerseys from Woodville, an array of local art to cotton wall-hangings and cushion covers from Palmerston North and quilts from Hastings.

Yvonne Johnson with her homegrown Stony Crik Plants and Rachel Johnson (not related) with her home-made Quintessa Creations NZ jewellery.

There are dozens of stories like these, every vendor having their own unique tale of motivation - people selling goods they create, others selling therapies, others promoting ideas and some fundraising.

The market is on the last Saturday of the month from 10am-1pm in the Showgrounds Home Industries’ Hall.

Dave Murdoch is a part-time photo-journalist working for the Bush Telegraph and based at Dannevirke. He has covered any community story telling good news about the district for the last ten years.