Arcadia Markets

Arcadia is semi-rural Hornsby Shire, the part of Sydney that still has paddocks, and its market happens twice a year rather than twice a month. That scarcity is the point: two market days a year concentrates everything the district can produce into a single Saturday, and the school grounds fill accordingly.

Two days a year, and both are events

The stall list runs to fresh produce, gourmet food, hand-crafted items, fashion and accessories, homewares, and eco-friendly and fair trade goods, which is a broader brief than most school fetes attempt. The market is pet friendly and parking is free, both of which matter in a suburb where nobody arrives without a car. The November market adds free rides for children and the Old Skool at School car show, which turns it from a market into a district event.

Running out of a public school means the money stays local, and it also means the site has the things a market needs and a paddock does not: hard surfaces, toilets, shade and somewhere for children to be.

Good to know before you go

Bring cash and bags. Arcadia is about fifteen minutes from Galston and forty-five from the centre of Sydney, in the part of Hornsby Shire that still feels like farmland, so treat it as a drive rather than a stop. The November market is the bigger of the two if you have children, on account of the rides and the car show. Parking is free and on site, which is just as well, because Arcadia Road is not a street to leave a car on.