South Melbourne Night Market Returns
One of the highlights of the culinary calendar is the south Melbourne Night Markets! South Melbourne Market will again be transformed into a magical night market on balmy Thursday evenings throughout summer – and this year will be bigger and better than ever before. From twilight on Thursday January 5, Melbourne’s oldest Market will buzz with a cultural feast of hawker-style food vans, market stalls and free entertainment and music, every Thursday for eight weeks until February 23, 2017. (Image above: South Melbourne Night Market Facebook).
Tightly woven into the fabric of South Melbourne and its surrounds, South Melbourne Market has served the community for nearly 150 years. “The Market opened in 1867 and is a firm favourite with locals and visitors,” the Mayor of Port Phillip, Cr Bernadene Voss, said. “It is a place where people come not only to buy fresh produce, but also to eat, shop, discover, share, connect and awaken their senses.”
A must-do on Melbourne’s summer events calendar, South Melbourne Market’s Night Market is now in its ninth year and attracts an enthusiastic community of locals, along with visitors from Melbourne and beyond. Punters can enjoy worldclass food and wines from restaurants, bars, food trucks and carts, which offer cheap, cheerful and delicious street fare. Every time The World Loves Melbourne has visited the market has been buzzing and the food and entertainment options are top notch!
Entertainers and musicians will perform from four acoustic stages, showcasing emerging talent as well as crowd favourites. To provide more space for people to relax, eat, drink and soak up the Night Market atmosphere, this year the market’s broad centre aisle will open for the first time during the evening event. As well as the Night Market activities, several of the regular South Melbourne Market stallholders will open their doors or set up a special stall for the evening to sell fashion, homewares, artisan goods and fresh, local produce.
These include traders in the Market’s SO:ME Space – The SuperCool, The SuperCool Kid, Lost in Seasons, Spin, Stone and Glint & Bone – and restaurants along Cecil Street, such as Simply Spanish, Paco Y Lola, Köy and Claypots Evening Star. New sassy artisans and designers will join regular Market traders to offer an array of unique, hard-to-find goods, such as clothing, accessories and jewellery, vintage and collectibles, artisan wares and art. “South Melbourne Market is a culturally vibrant public space that helps to connect diverse segments of our community, strengthening the social fabric of our community,” Cr Voss said. “The Night Market is just another way we achieve this. It provides a great opportunity for friends to gather and celebrate good food, cultural diversity, local design and live music in an authentic, much-loved community Market.”
Images above: South Melbourne Night Market Facebook Page.
Dates/Time: Thursday evenings 5 January – 23 February 2017, 5.30pm – 9.30pm
Price: Free live music and entertainment
Address: South Melbourne Market, Coventry & Cecil Streets, South Melbourne. Walk, drive or catch the 96 or 11 tram to South Melbourne. Free rooftop parking from 5.30pm.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/southmelbournenightmarket Twitter: @sthmelbnightmkt Instagram: @southmelbournenightmarket Website: www.southmelbournenightmarket.com.au