Maketu¯ Market makes a welcome return this month

Maketu¯ Market will be up and running again later this month.

The market is run on the third and, if there is one, fifth Sunday of the month by Maketu¯ Rotary Club.

Club member Pete Sanders says there have been a lot of people asking about when the market will resume.

The answer can now be given: July 19. The club waited for alert level 1 before contemplating restarting the markets.

“Even when we went to [alert] level 2 we thought, no, we don’t want to do this. We don’t have any way of controlling people in the park and basically they could enter it from anywhere,” says Pete.

The last market was in March.

Pete says it will be nice for vendors and shoppers to have the market back.

“It’s been a local fundraiser and it’s also been a pretty good meeting place — it’s become a Sunday opportunity for people to get out of the house

Maketu¯ Market will be back on July 19.

and walk down to the park.”

The market is weather dependent.

“During the colder months they are not as big as in summer time, but it’s a pretty good market. It gets people coming from all over the place. It’s regarded as being a friendly market.”

Money raised by the market goes back into the community.

Covid-19 lockdown didn’t prevent club members meeting — they just had to

meet over Zoom.

“We still had guest speakers from all over the North Island,” says Pete.

The club also used its new way of meeting to connect with Rotarians from overseas.

“One Friday about nine or 10 of our members joined a Rotary Club in California for their Thursday lunch time meeting.”

Pete says it is unlikely that would have happened without lockdown.