Market Day Fete
SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES EVERYONE MADE A PROFIT, ITEMS WERE AS CHEAP AS 50 CENTS
Late Friday night, Raijieli Lako, of California Road in Lautoka, was busy in her backyard garden harvesting vegetables destined for the market.
Many did not know her heart was set on bringing the harvest to sell in Suva.
On Saturday morning, at the Fiji Sports Council’s market day in Suva, Mrs Lako surprised long time friends when she unloaded cartons from Lautoka as she set up her booth.
Not a chance
“I wasn’t going to miss it. “I packed everything from the farm to bring to Suva.
“My husband tried to deter me; I wouldn’t have it,” Mrs Lako said yesterday, as she sat content in her tent at the council’s market day.
She is determined to return to the next market day, saying Suva brought better prospects for her because of the wider customer base it provided.
She was among 70-plus vendors who drew in crowds of over 500 people at the day long event, outside the ANZ Stadium.
A word from organisers
Council chief operations officer John Pickering said the number of vendors increased from 54 last week, to 74 this week.
The council intends to host the Suva market day twice a month, while it maps out the possibility of launching the same in Sigatoka and Rakiraki, he said. “We’re working on the interest from the public before we make a firm decision on the regularity of the market day,” Mr Pickering
said.
“The demand is high from vendors for a weekly market day.
“As it is, we have had to turn away some vendors.” Mr Pickering said: “We don’t want people to get tired of the market day, so we’ll take our cue from the feedback.”
Event coordinator Eleina Mcdonald said vendors paid $30 for a tent, and $20 to sell their goods of out of the boot of their vehicles.
“For such a small sum, we are pleased to hear reports where some of them go home with $200 to $300,” she said.
“Its got a nice touch to it, with prices as low as 50 cents.”
How it started
The closure of sports facilities in mid-March, 2020, following the coronavirus pandemic, and the lack of income that ensued, propelled the council to organise the market day, Mr Pickering said. “This is something we had intended for a long time, but didn’t get around to doing because our calendar was back to back with events,” Ms Mcdonald said. Mr Pickering said the launch of the batter system in recent months compelled the council to deliver a market day as an avenue for traders.
“Our initial intention was to provide a space for SMEs.
“We’re happy to finally be able to do this.”