Christmas market upsizes to Manfeild
Demand from stallholders has moved Feilding’s annual Christmas market to a new home, as the festive season gets under way.
The Feilding Craft Market’s festive event is on at Manfeild Stadium today and tomorrow, having outgrown its old venue, the Feilding Civic Centre.
Organisers Gary and Heather Philip are excited by the expansion.
‘‘It’s going to be huge,’’ Heather Philip said.
A mid-year market has been held at Manfeild Stadium for 32 years, with a smaller, festive event at the civic centre.
It’s traditionally been a cosy affair, Philip said, but interest from stallholders and shoppers had exploded in recent years.
The move to Manfeild has given the market significantly more space for stalls, and bookings were at capacity.
‘‘We’re chocka. We’ve got more stalls than we had in June.’’
Philip said the extra room this year was a source of fun and an opportunity for organisers, as they worked to transform Manfeild into a Christmas wonderland.
‘‘We started collecting Christmas stuff at the beginning of the year, [because] we knew that with such a big space we needed a lot.’’
Each Feilding Craft Market has a stall reserved for a local charity group to use for free.
Feilding Menzshed will be putting it to festive use with a functional Santa’s workshop.
‘‘We are delighted to have [them]. They had lots of ideas flowing so it will be interesting to see what they have been making,’’ Philip said.
She said other stallholders were getting into the Christmas spirit. The Christmas market is running from 8am to 4pm both days.
Entry is $8 for adults, children under 12 free.