Goulburn Farmers Market
Three hours on the fourth Saturday, food and farm products only, in the Peden Pavilion at the Goulburn showground.
About this market
Three hours is a short market. The Goulburn Farmers Market opens at 8am on the fourth Saturday of the month and is packed up by 11am, which sounds restrictive until you have been to one. A tight window concentrates everybody into the same morning, and the pavilion is genuinely full for the whole of it rather than thinning out after the first rush.
Food and farm products, and nothing else
The market has a rule it takes seriously: food and farm products only. No candles, no soaps, no bric-a-brac. Around 30 stallholders work the Peden Pavilion with produce, meat, eggs, bread, honey, preserves, oils and the sorts of things that come off a farm within reasonable driving distance of Goulburn. It is a narrower brief than most regional markets take on, and it makes the trip worth it for anybody who has walked a "farmers market" that turned out to be two vegetable stalls and forty craft tables.
Market at a glance
By farmers market standards this one is very new. It ran its first market in October 2023, started by Rita Warleigh, and has been building since with support from Goulburn Mulwaree Council and grant funding from Veolia and the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal. Newness has an upside here: the stallholder list is still being shaped around what the market wants to be, rather than inherited from whatever was there fifteen years ago.
The Peden Pavilion is a covered showground building rather than an open paddock, which is the quiet reason this market works on the southern tablelands. Goulburn sits high enough that a winter Saturday morning can start below zero, and a market held under a roof in June is a very different proposition to one held on grass. Trading is the same 8am to 11am whatever the weather does.
Good to know before you go
Fourth Saturday, 8am to 11am, and treat the 8am as real. Producers bring what they have and the good stuff moves in the first hour, particularly meat and bread. Bring your own bags and some cash, though most stalls handle cards. The showground is on Braidwood Road just out of the centre of town with parking on site, so this is one of the easier markets to get in and out of. Goulburn is roughly two hours from both Sydney and Canberra, which makes the fourth Saturday a workable day trip from either. This is Gundungurra country.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When is the Goulburn Farmers Market on?
- The fourth Saturday of every month, 8am to 11am, in the Peden Pavilion at 45 Braidwood Road. It is a short window, so it is worth arriving in the first hour.
- Are there craft or general stalls?
- No. This is a food and farm products market by design. Around 30 stallholders sell produce, meat, bread, eggs, honey, preserves and similar, and craft is deliberately left out.
- How long has the market been running?
- It started in October 2023, so it is one of the newer farmers markets on the southern tablelands. It has grown steadily since, with backing from Goulburn Mulwaree Council and grant funding.