Opotiki Local Produce Market planning meeting

Minutes Market proposal. (from memory, no notes were taken, please ADD a comment if I have left anything out, or you want to contribute to the discussion)

We had a tour of the venue to check out the garages available for the Market.  The garage doors don’t open yet, but the space is large and has great flow from the gravel area in front to the big covered area.

We have had confirmation from the Council that for a $100 annual fee we could register the site as a permanent market place.

One proposal for the site is to allow trading there at all times, every day by farmers and home growers.

Farmers/growers within the group expressed concern that without a set day/time for customers to turn up they would not have enough customers just passing by the site.

Waiotahe market, Whakatane Market and Ohope Market were all perceived as competition for customers, and potential clashes, however, Waiotahe market is getting harder for Opotiki town people to access with rising petrol prices, and we need to discuss our proposed market with their steering committee, to see where we can potentially get some support.

General consensus seemed to be that to attract farmers and customers we need to have a regular set time/day when the bulk of trading will occur, while still allowing the public to set up stalls at any time.

Saturday is the preferred day.

As a Transition Town initiative, and with the goals of reducing our carbon footprint and supporting resilience in our local economy, the market will probably need guidelines for running.  A suggestion is to put these on a billboard, with no official monitoring.

Suggestions/concerns were posted up:

* An opening event for the Farmers

* Start off every Saturday, and let it grow from there.

* Have a fee for market space

* Set a date for the 1st market

* Have Chantal stuff available at the market (funded by one person to start, later by the food co-op)

* people who monitor the koha can also ensure that the goods being sold fit the TT Goals, ie encouraging local goods/crafts.

* put ads down the street eg, sandwich boards letting people know we are selling fruit and veges at the market.

* start simply and let it grow.

* The Market should pay for the use of its own venue space.

A call was put out for a team of 4 or 5 people to organise/coordinate/network/plan the details. 

Names put down for the team were:

* Lynn Roberts

* Claire Belcik (phone calls not meetings)

Please add a comment!

When should we have the big opening?