Learn English while learning about daily life in Australia, with Rob McCormack

Podcast Number 129 – Community Markets in Australia

(This podcast is 10 minutes and 34 seconds long)

Hi,

Community markets are found in most countries around the world and Australia is no exception. A community market is a place where people can sell, for a short period only, a range of handmade products, new and secondhand merchandise, along with locally produced foods, fruits and vegetables and takeaway food. It is usually located in a public place such as a park or a local school or a shopping centre carpark. Community markets in Australia typically operate on the weekend and last normally for around half a day. In this podcast, I would like to tell you a little about these community markets in Australia.

An Open Air Market in Glebe, NSW Photo by Andy Wang on Unsplash

I enjoy walking through a community market on a Saturday or Sunday morning. It always has such a different feel compared to walking through a town shopping area or through a shopping centre. You see local people selling things which they have made or created, so in a sense they are telling you something about themselves and their lifestyle as they stand or sit in their stall with their offering spread out before them. The overall feel of a community market is of things that are not mass-produced. These products are made with a certain amount of love and care. In buying these products, you are sharing a little of the lifestyle of the seller. Examples of typical food products for sale in a community market include homemade jams and sauces, honey from local beehives, organically grown fruit and vegetables and locally made cakes which are always a favourite for me. Other types of merchandise include:

• locally made personal care products such as soaps and creams,
• uniquely shaped and scented candles in many colours,
• locally made woollen or cotton garments such as dresses, pullovers, beanies, skirts, scarves and tops,
• clothing which has been tie-dyed such as dresses and t-shirts,
• shoes and sandals made from leather and canvass,
• carry bags made from woven wool and other materials,
• hand-crafted leather products such as belts, purses, bags and wallets,
• plants and seeds,
• bonsai trees,
• art works being sold by the artists, such as paintings and sculptures.

The list goes on and on.

Open Air Market in Glebe NSW Photo by Andy Wang on Unsplash

I guess the key thing about nearly all of the things being sold is that they are not normally found in a shop or department store. They have something special about them, usually because they were made by a local person using skills that involve the hands and usually the heart. By that, I mean that the products are made not just to be sold, but also because they come from the creative skills and passions of the maker.

Of course it is not only new or fresh products, there are also some stalls which are selling secondhand things which have outlived their usefulness, but which other people might find still useful. There is a saying in English – one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. This means that those things which I no longer want or need, may well be something which someone else may want and need. Classical examples include second hand books and magazines, old vinyl records, videos and cassettes, clothes, tools and crockery, just to name a few. People selling these types of objects are usually quite open to someone making an offer. The value of these objects is often quite variable. It depends on the view of the person buying. Let’s face it, most people might look at these sorts of things and call them junk, fit only for the rubbish bin. But some people will see value in them and make an offer. When this happens, the buyer is trying to bargain or negotiate for a better price. In this situation, it is often useful to ask the question – are you open to offers? If they say yes, then you know you will be able to get a bargain. Getting a bargain is something many people really enjoy in a community market.

Another feature of community markets is the availability of food and drink to be eaten on the spot. At every market, at least in Victoria, there will be a stall selling coffee. We love our espresso coffee here in Victoria (see Podcast 53). Along with a coffee, you can usually buy something sweet to go with it, such as a pastry, cake or doughnut. Other types of fast food on sale will often include hamburgers, hot dogs, barbequed sausages, fresh fruit juice, hot meals such as curry dishes, vegetarian meals and other goodies. Of course, there is usually always a stall selling ice-cream – very hard for me to resist!

Rob at the community markets in Cooma NSW. I was passing through while riding my motorcycle. I could not resist a barbequed sausage from the markets (followed by an ice-cream!).

Children’s activities are also usually available, including face painting, sweets or lollies stalls, toy stalls and sometimes real baby farm animals to pat. I can only imagine how much fun it must be for young children to attend a market, with all the sights, sounds, smells and tastes that are all around them.

Community markets also raise money for local projects and charitable causes. For example, there are community markets which raise money for local schools and those which are run by community service clubs such as Rotary, which donates to, and supports, many good causes in the Australian community. Volunteers do all the hard work of organizing and managing the community markets to make sure they run well and safely. There is nothing better on a weekend than to visit a local community market.

If you have a question or a comment to make, please leave it in the comments box at the bottom of this page. Or, you can send me an email at rob@slowenglish.info. I would love to hear from you. Tell me where you live, a little bit about yourself and what you think of my Slow English podcast. I will write back to you, in English of course. If you would like to take a short quiz to see if you have understood this podcast, you will also find it on my website. Goodbye until next time.

Rob

Vocabulary

🔊 Play attend = go to
🔊 Play bargain = (here) when you have bought something cheaper than normal
🔊 Play beanies = a soft covering for your head, usually made from colourful wool
🔊 Play bonsai = a special way to grow trees so that they stay very small
🔊 Play canvass = a type of strong woven material used in bags, yacht sails, etc
🔊 Play charitable causes = groups or organisations who help others in need
🔊 Play community service clubs = clubs which help others in their community
🔊 Play compared = when you decide if something is better, worse or just different to something else
🔊 Play crockery = plates, cups, saucers, dishes
🔊 Play curry = a type of meal, which comes from Indian cooking
🔊 Play department store = a very large shop where you can buy a range of things
🔊 Play donates = to give to those in need
🔊 Play espresso coffee = coffee made in a special way from coffee beans
🔊 Play exception = when someone or something is different from normal
🔊 Play feature = a characteristic
🔊 Play feel = (here) how something affects you e.g. happy, sad, etc
🔊 Play garments = clothes
🔊 Play goodies = things which we think are good
🔊 Play hand-crafted = made by hand (not by machines or in factories)
🔊 Play in a sense = from one perspective
🔊 Play involve = (here) are a part of, including
🔊 Play jams = something sweet which is spread on bread e.g. strawberry jam
🔊 Play junk = rubbish, trash
🔊 Play lifestyle = how you live
🔊 Play located = found
🔊 Play lollies = sweets
🔊 Play magazines = soft cover reading materials about a particular topic e.g. sports magazines
🔊 Play massed-produced = made in a factory
🔊 Play materials = what things are made of
🔊 Play merchandise = things offered for sale
🔊 Play offer = (here) a suggestion that you will pay a lower price
🔊 Play offering = the things which are being offered for sale
🔊 Play on the spot = immediately, in the same place
🔊 Play operate = (here) run, work, go
🔊 Play organically = grown without using chemicals
🔊 Play passions = when you really love something
🔊 Play pastry = a type of sweet
🔊 Play pat = to tap or stroke gently
🔊 Play period = a length of time e.g. 4 hours
🔊 Play personal care products = things used on your body to smell nice, stay clean or look nice
🔊 Play products = the things sold in shops and businesses (and markets)
🔊 Play purses = a small bag used by women to carry their money and ID cards
🔊 Play raise = (here) to collect money from other people for a charity
🔊 Play range = a number of different things in a group
🔊 Play resist = to stop, to fight against
🔊 Play sandals = shoes which are open
🔊 Play scented = smells nice
🔊 Play sculptures = shaped which are carved by an artist (a sculptor)
🔊 Play secondhand = not new, used by someone else before you
🔊 Play stall = a small area where things are shown for sale
🔊 Play tie-dyed = when something is coloured using a process of tying then dyeing the material
🔊 Play to bargain = (here) when you offer a lower price in order to buy something cheaper
🔊 Play trash = rubbish, junk
🔊 Play treasure = something that people value and want
🔊 Play typically = normally
🔊 Play uniquely = when something is like nothing else
🔊 Play variable = not constant, can change
🔊 Play vegetarian = with no meat
🔊 Play vinyl records = black circular objects used to play music
🔊 Play wallets = a small bag used by men to carry their money and ID cards
🔊 Play woven = a way of making a material, where threads are wound together