Upper Yarra residents weathered the wintry winds and gathered at the Yarra Valley ECOSS Winter Twilight Market on Friday 13 June for a night of food, stalls and music.
Yarra Valley ECOSS executive officer Chelsea McNab said the night went well and was successful in bringing everyone together.
“Even though it was cold, it felt really beautiful and warm, and it was a great opportunity for people to just gather around the fire with live music and lots of great stalls,” she said.
The murmur of the crowd coupled with the serenading open mic performers set the soundtrack for the night.
The market stalls were packed with locally made products, which included mulled wine, chai, and various meals from Mexican and Indian cuisines.
A clothes swap stall saw people copping new clothes and grabbing a gift or two.
People could attend the market free of charge and Ms McNab said a lot of work was put into organising the event.
Yarra Valley ECOSS community engagement, market and events coordinator Leanne Hall designed the flyers for the event and distributed them to potential stall holders.
Ms McNab spoke highly of Ms Hall’s efforts as she did the preparations for the event.
“Leanne does all of the preparation and kudos to her for having the energy to make it happen,” Ms McNab said.
It was the first time the Winter Twilight Market had an open mic too, which was led by community members.
“I think this was the first time we ran an open mic at the Twilight Market and we had some other community members take charge of that.”
“There’s a big fire circle around the fire. So it felt like people could come in and get a bit cozier, with that and then we had a little bit of a jam as well that anyone could join in with. So it feels like a very inclusive space.”
Yarra Valley ECOSS reached out to members of the community to host the open mic and handed the responsibility to them on the day.
Ms McNab said it was nice to expand the organisational role to the community.
“We just asked if they would take the reins on that and we had some brilliant performances and it was just nice to expand that out into the community hands a bit more.”
ECOSS is an environmental and educational not-for-profit community hub and its events are organised by volunteers.
