This week the city will celebrate the 16th Anniversary of the Newcastle Farmers’ Market.
A whole host of events and activities will take place on Friday 2nd September at the market on Grainger Street. These will include tasters, healthy snacks and demonstrations by ‘Food Nation’ who will be sharing some recipes and tips for quick and simple meals. Our regular stall holders will be there selling delicious quality food including meats, cheeses, pizza and curry.
The Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens will also have a stall and will be promoting community farm and garden projects. They are looking forward to meeting and chatting to passers-by and will have information, children’s craft activities, and their mascot and very well-travelled poultry.
And finally making a return visit to the market are the gorgeous and popular alpacas, normally found in the mountains of South America. Debbie and Paul Rippon are the owners of Barnacre Alpacas, based in Northumberland on their hill farm near Otterburn. They began breeding alpacas back in 2007 and have developed a beautiful range of hand knitted garments all made from the fleeces of their 130 alpacas. Every hat, scarf and mobile phone sock is traceable back to a named alpaca or you can even buy alpaca wool if you fancy your own knitting project. Their alpacas are very friendly and their fleece is amazingly soft and luxurious.
Cllr Kim Mc Guinness, Cabinet Member for Culture and Communities at Newcastle City Council said:
“We are really excited to be celebrating the 16th anniversary of the farmers’ market in Newcastle, it’s great that this special day will be marked by a market with something to get everyone involved. Since it began the market has given people a great place to buy and eat locally produced food and support our local farmers and businesses. At the celebration there will be plenty to see and you can have a chat and get some tips from stall holders and local farmers, many of whom have been coming to the market since it started.”