Weather doesn’t dampen day

Rough weather in Manawatu made weekend events hard going, but there was enough sunshine to still warm the spirits of punters at Marton’s annual fair.

The cold weather and strong winds are set to stick around for a few more days, with temperates languishing in the mid-teens.

Those who attended the Marton Market Day on Saturday got a taste of true summer, albeit briefly, as the town hosted more than 200 stalls of arts and crafts, produce and food.

Project Marton co-ordinator Cath Ash said it was a really good day.

‘‘It had the making of being the best we had ever seen ...[but] the weather started packing in about 12ish. But it had been absolutely spectacular until then. Most of the morning was absolutely [packed] with people.’’

Ash said the quality of the stalls was high this year.

‘‘We had 83 metres of food stalls, really, really good stalls but the quality of the other stalls was really top notch.’’

They also had some great entertainment for the crowds of people who did make it along.

‘‘We had Joel Fenton come over from Brisbane and he’s an amazing street performer.

‘‘He would have had a few hundred people around him as he was performing.’’

Market-goer Kirsty Dellow said the day had been good despite the rain in the afternoon.

‘‘There’s a lot of stalls around, shame about the weather it’s a bit cold but there is a lot of selection.’’

Dellow said she normally worked on market day, so it had been a few years since she had attended. She thought there were a lot more cultural attractions than in the past.

Audette Standing-phillips said she had been to the market multiple times before and this year was just as enjoyable.

‘‘[There are] more stalls this year, we have had to use the park this year were previously it was just on the streets.’’

The variety among the stalls also appealed to her. Metservice meteorologist Arno Dyason said the weather wasn’t expected to improve until late Wednesday or early Thursday.

‘‘That wind will stay quite strong for most of the first half of the week.’’

Wind speeds reached 76 kilometres in Palmerston North on Sunday with showers continuing throughout the day.

However, showers should ease by early Monday, Dyason said, with only scattered showers expected on Tuesday.

Heading towards the first official day of summer on December 1 the temperature would start rising, to 18 or 19 degrees.