2017: The MMM celebrates 10 years!
2016 – Wow, what a year it has been! We’re not quite at the end yet, but time sure has flown by! As most of you may be aware, the Maribyrnong Makers Market is run fully by volunteers. Somehow, even with work, family and social commitments, our committee and volunteers all find the time to juggle their hectic schedules all while taking the time to organise this amazing market – truly a labour of love!
As the saying goes.. “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Now for the exciting news! In 2017, the MMM will be turning 10! In honour of this, we thought we’d ask our President, Stephen McIvor-Smith to tell us a little about his journey with the market and if there are any plans to celebrate the milestone.
When did you start volunteering with the MMM?
Literally ten years ago, when a small group of Seddonites decided to organise a craft market. There was a growing cohort of residents across the area making things at home and wishing to market/sell them outside the traditional realm of the shopfront.
We needed a space to run the market and community halls and facilities are relatively scarce in Seddon. However, some of us had been members of the Seddon Community Group which met regularly at the Seddon Uniting Church on Gamon Street. So that's where we went and we've been there ever since.
The Church grounds are quite quaint and provide a great community atmosphere. We sincerely thank the congregation for allowing us to have our market in their facilities.
How did you become the President of the Maribyrnong Makers Group?
We needed to be an incorporated entity to meet our objective of being a not for profit community group. For this to occur, we needed to hold annual general meetings and nominate office bearers... I think I ended up drawing the short straw for president! (Not really :D)
At the time, we needed to fill all the usual roles of President, Treasurer, Secretary and Public Officer. I just so happen to apparently fit the mould for president while others with particular skills fit into the other officer positions.
It's the MMM'S 10th year next year! Can you tell us a little bit about any plans to celebrate such a momentous occasion?
Yes 10 years! How exciting! Markets come and go throughout the years but we're going from strength to strength. This is a testament to the extraordinary dedication of our committee members and our volunteer base, plus all the enthusiasm we put into planning each market.
We definitely have some exciting plans to kick off next year! First off, we’ll have a new market name and brand to mark our 10th year anniversary- we will be known as, 'Seddon Makers Market' from January 2017. You'll get a sneak peak of some of our new collateral at our upcoming November market with the distribution of our 2017 dates on a postcard. Plans also include choosing a theme for each of our markets to keep our patrons enthused and keen to visit. For example, think Mid-Year Winter Wonderland!
Looking back, we’re also going to bring forward some successes we’ve had this year. 2016 was the first year we trialled a June market and it worked extremely well, so we're going to make that a regular market month going forward in the New Year!
Apart from that, we are lucky to be receiving a lot more applications from people wishing to be a stallholder at our markets. Unfortunately, this demand far outweighs supply for available stallholder allocations and we often have to carefully curate our selections to ensure we always have high-quality products. On the plus side, this gives us the flexibility to try and blend more variety into next year's markets. Watch this space!
As you can see, 2017 is going to be MASSIVE! We can’t wait to showcase more local talent than ever before, starting with our biggest market of the year on Nov 19th!
To keep up to date with us, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Instagram or Facebook! Finally, I'll leave you with this quote by Elizabeth Andrew:
“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.”
xx