![Rita Warleigh and her International Volunteers for Peace group is starting a farmers market in Goulburn on October 28. Picture supplied. Rita Warleigh and her International Volunteers for Peace group is starting a farmers market in Goulburn on October 28. Picture supplied.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/FkT3ZusFw5YrTvZCipmLUF/12933883-560c-4f01-9cd7-ba84fa89d64b.jpg/r0_60_2261_1608_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Rita Warleigh hopes to tap into people's post-pandemic penchant for fresh produce by starting a farmers' market.
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A six-month trial of the Goulburn Farmers Market will start at the Peden Pavilion at the Braidwood Road Recreation Area on Saturday, October 28 from 8am to 11am.
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Former Taralga woman and International Volunteers for Peace (IVP) founder, Rita Warleigh, initiated the event.
"I do think people are looking for good quality and different fresh produce," she said.
"During the (COVID-19) pandemic it was clear that there were problems with long haul supply lines and getting produce to supermarkets."
Some 15 producers from within a 100km of Goulburn have booked stalls for the inaugural market. They cover everything from fruit and vegetables, to eggs, flowers, artisan breads, distilled products and plants.
The event has secured two small grants, including $2000 from Goulburn Mulwaree Council and another from the Veolia Mulwaree Trust.
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Ms Warleigh said the market was designed to be a producer-run, non-profit entity that would be self-supporting once operational. In future she hopes it will include small-scale production and sustainability workshops for the community.
"There will be a big focus on sustainability and that means no re-selling of products," she said.
In practical terms it also means no plastic packaging, dealing with food waste, "best practice" rubbish, recycling and composting and employing a market manager to oversee "continuous improvement."
Ms Warleigh believed the event would complement, rather than clash with other markets in Goulburn. Organisers chose the fourth Saturday of the month to avoid a clash with the Rotary Markets in Montague Street on the second Saturday. As a point of difference, the Peden Pavilion fixture will not sell arts and crafts, only fresh produce.
"It means a market will be held in Goulburn on most weekends," she said.
"...We are getting great responses from people on social media, including those saying it's about time something like this started. We want to make a splash with our first one so people will come back."
Organisers have based their model on markets at Moruya and Woden's EPIC event and taken tips from their coordinators.
The Goulburn market will initially fall under the IVP banner, taking advantage of an ABN, insurance and experience at organisation of community events. Ms Warleigh hopes in time that another community entity will take it over.
She founded IVP in the Blue Mountains in 1988. It is a now a Goulburn-based network of volunteers supporting community-driven projects with a focus on peace, environment and action.
The group's committee, with help from some stallholders, is organising the Goulburn market.
"We are doing it for the community and I think it will be a wonderful thing for Goulburn," Ms Warleigh said.
- For more information, email admin@goulburnfarmersmarket.com.au or phone 0439 279 556.
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