First gourmet night markets exceed organisers' expectations

Hatea Kapa Haka perform for the massive crowd at the inaugural Whangarei Gourmet Night Market on Friday.

Whangarei's first Gourmet Night Market was such a success that many of the 34 vendors ran out of food.

Organiser Leeann de Vries said she was overwhelmed after more than 3000 people turned up to the first market on Friday night.

Ms de Vries wasn't sure exactly how the night would go and, while she knew it would be successful, the number of people who turned up to the Canopy Bridge still took her by surprise.

"Numbers [were] well beyond our expectations. Out in full force, every green space filled, the Town Basin buzzing, neighbouring restaurants full and everywhere jam-packed. Amazing," she said.

"It's very satisfying and I was really lost for words. People just kept coming and coming and most people seemed happy."

She has already had emails from almost 100 other companies wanting to take part in the next night market, but she said it was big enough for now.

"I don't think there's the room for any more really. One of the issues was getting around the Canopy Bridge with so many people there, so we'll see if we can organise things a bit better next time," Ms de Vries said.

"It was the first one and we knew there'd be a few teething problems, but 99.9 per cent of the feedback I've had so far has been positive."

She said while the market was set to run until 9.30pm, things started winding down about 7.30pm after many vendors ran out of food.

"There was a lot of anticipation and excitement from people in the build-up and I suppose it's not necessarily a bad thing that some ran out of food - it shows just how successful it was."

The vendors were delighted with their sales, she said, with most wanting to come back.
"I was pretty gobsmacked, the businesses were pumping and afterwards town was very busy as many people decided to stay in town and make a night of it.

"It's been a huge learning curve for me. I spoke to night markets around the country while organising this one and while they are all very different, they all have some things in common. I wanted to make ours different again, but also make sure we had those things in common looked after."

Shelley Moody, from Whangarei, took sons Justin Soper, 3, and Owen Soper, 7, along and was delighted with how the evening turned out.

"I've been following this on Facebook and thought it would be awesome for Whangarei," Ms Moody said. "I've been to one previously in Rotorua and this is something Whangarei really needs."