Huge Numbers At Pre Christmas Market

They sold out of curly fries, fried chicken and garden art. To say the Southern Crafters Christmas Market was a huge success was an understatement.

President Wayne Melville said Saturday’s market day in particular had huge numbers of people through — so many in fact, that one of the stall holders didn’t have anything left to sell on Sunday.

“It’s the biggest market we have had. It was unbelievable.”

The traditional market held at ILT Stadium Southland and established more than 20 years ago, had a break in July after Covid-19, but came back stronger than ever this weekend.

“There were some very, very happy stallholders,” he said.

Many of the 184 stallholders made comments on the Facebook page, acknowledging the hard work of the committee and how smooth the event ran.

There were record sales for many businesses involved, with 10 new stallholders at the market this year.

whatsoninvers.nz founder Mike Sanford said this was the first time in years the crafters market had advertised with them and he was pleased they delivered a record crowd.

“The new crafters committee are great to work with,” he said.

The Southern Crafters Market is currently 70% local with the remainder coming from all over New Zealand.

The next one will be held in July 2021.