Following a 41-degree afternoon, Myrtleford cooled down last Friday by hosting a combined Twilight Farmers’ Market and Summer Series in the Piazza, with hundreds of attendees stopping at their favourite stalls, ‘stocking’-up on any last-minute, locally-produced delicacies or finding the perfect Christmas present.

Market co-ordinator, Louise Benini, said to combat the heat, a number of misting fans were spread out in the Piazza and stalls were set-up under trees.

“There’s always a concern for people when it’s so hot, as it was earlier, so we did what we could,” she said.

“Normally, this Twilight Market is our last monthly market for the year, but last year we trialled 20 stalls on the Saturday after Christmas, which was a success.

“So, we’ll be doing it again this year with a full number of stalls; we’re really looking forward to it.

“We want to thank all our market attendees for their continuous support of the market and it’s stall holders.”

As the evening progressed, stalls saw some of their stock sell out completely, as it was at the Stony Creek Fish Farm stand.

“We sold out of all our smoked products within the first two hours,” Margo Northey said.

“Patrons have loved the trout pate, which is always very popular and we’ve also had a lot of requests for caviar.”

Margo said their truffle grove has helped to stock a lot of the gift boxes which have also been sold.

Ash Smith from the Gamze Smokehouse stall said some customers had waited until this market to get their Christmas hams.

“Everyone’s topping up their pantries and kitchens for Christmas,” he said.

“There might be a bit of second-guessing involved; they’re asking themselves ‘do I have enough for everyone?’

“It’s always better to have more, than not enough at Christmas.

“The market’s something great to do in town; you can catch up with everyone, have a good night out with live music and get what you need.”

Event organiser, Kerry Murphy, said there’s always been a Twilight Farmers’ Market on the Friday before Christmas.

“The Summer Series was added to our summer calendar later,” she said.

“Instead of pivoting or moving our usual monthly events to different days, we were able to combine the two in December and be more accessible to the community.

“We used to host Santa at the market, but he now arrives a little bit later in Myrtleford, at the Twilight Carols.”

The last Myrtleford Farmers’ Market for 2025 will take place on Saturday, 27 December, in the Piazza from 8:30am to 12:30pm.