Vic Park Farmers Market
On Sunday, we dropped by the first Vic Park Farmers Market, held at John McMillan Park in East Victoria Park. The market is a fundraising initiative by the Parents and Citizens Association of Victoria Park Primary School and will be on every Sunday from 8am to 11am.
There was an excellent turnout, with more people rocking up than expected. Clearly, I wasn’t alone in looking forward to a farmers market in Vic Park. By 9am, the crowd left little wiggle room around stalls, especially near the bagels and coffee, which proved very popular, and some food stalls sold out well before 11am. The market organisers plan to spread the stalls out a bit more for next week, and no doubt stallholders will come with more stock. It’s always hard to know how many will turn up when you’re starting up a new event. I’m sure they’ll keep tweaking and improving – it was a great effort for the first one.
There were over 30 stalls at the market, with an emphasis on fresh and ready-to-eat Western Australian-grown and produced food. My pictures capture only some of what was available at the market – other stalls not pictured include Bon Pussy Jamaican recipe chilli sauces; Mr Tapas, cooking up gluten-free sweet spiced rice pudding with poached local fruit and roasted almonds; fresh flowers; a couple more fresh and organic fruit and vegetable stalls; Rawgy, selling vegan-friendly organic raw superfoods; Sunnydale Dairy’s milk and yoghurt; Tammy’s Bakery, specialising in sourdough breads; and more.
Kids really got into button badge-making at the stall run by the Carlisle/Victoria Park toy library
Macabee Dorper Lamb from the Avon Valley, selling free range lamb and capretto (goat)
The Bread Expert is a German bakery from Joondalup
Market-goers enjoyed food and drink at the covered seating. It was also easy to find a shady spot on the grass to sit and eat your food, picnic-style
Live entertainment
The Holy Bagel Company make traditional boiled sweet and savoury bagels 
Miam Miam – a bite of France sold macarons, waffles, and crepes cooked to order 
There were several coffee options at the market – this was Jacqui Mac coffee cart
Top Dup served hot, iced and cold drip locally roasted Darkstar coffee
Antz Cold Brew coffee is roasted, brewed and bottled locally by Antz inya Pantz Coffee Company from East Victoria Park. It’s served ice cold and less bitter than you’d imagine – I don’t like drinking hot black coffee, but I really like this. They had free samples for tasting 
I love eating paella at food markets and I love rice for breakfast, so I waited for Soul Cocina’s paella to be ready
Seafood paella with prawns, cuttlefish, chicken and chorizo (AU$13) – delicious! There was also vegetarian paella (AU$12) with artichokes, eggplant, zucchini and preserved lemon 
Baguette Me Not serve Franco-Vietnamese fusion street food. They made bahn mi to order with options including lemongrass chicken, pulled pork, mushroom (vegetarian) and a bacon and egg ‘breakfast bahn mi’
Jac’s grilled field mushroom bahn mi (AU$10), with mayonnaise, sauteed onions, pickled carrots and daikon, cucumber, coriander and spring onion. The bread roll was fantastic – lightly toasted, crusty and chewy. I loved this – will try pulled pork next time, I think 
We shared a fresh juice from Juicy Chai Wallahs – the Green Uplifter (AU$6.50) made with pear, apple and lime
The Parents and Citizens Association of Victoria Park Primary School run the market and have their food stall cooking bacon and egg rolls
Turkish Tucker sold gozleme, dips including hommus and baba ghanoush, and fresh baklava
There were several stalls selling fresh locally grown fruit and vegetables
Fresh herbs and seedlings for sale by Organic Botanic
There was free water available – in the coolers pictured here, on the left
It’s a dog-friendly market, with a dog wash stand and Go Fetch Bakery, with wheat free doggie treats for sale 
Positioned slightly away from the main market stalls, Barks in the Park provided a wash, towel, dry and perfume service (AU$20 for small/medium dogs, $30 for large dogs). This spaniel was a most dignified customer
The park provided ample room for kids to work off excess energy. Funky Monkey Sports ran 45-minute activity sessions at AU$10 per child – they’ll be at the Vic Park Farmers Market once a month, next time is 13 AprilWe like to go to the Farmers Market at Manning when we get the chance, but Saturdays can be a bit busy/tricky for us. It’s awesome to have a Sunday option now with the Vic Park Farmers Market.
Vic Park Farmers Market
John McMillan Park, Kent Street
East Victoria Park
Sundays 8am to 11am
Car parking is available on three sides of the park
Toilets and wheelchair access are available
The market is a fundraising initiative by the Parents and Citizens Association of the Victoria Park Primary School
Get latest updates at their Facebook page