Katherine Community Markets
A volunteer-run dry season market behind the visitor centre, opening the first Saturday after Easter and closing when the wet returns.
About this market
The Katherine Community Markets open on the first Saturday after Easter and run every Saturday morning until the wet season closes them again. That is not a quirk of scheduling. It is how outdoor life works in the Top End, where the dry season is the half of the year in which standing around in a park is a pleasant idea rather than an unpleasant one.
A dry season Saturday behind the visitor centre
The site is the Lindsay Street Complex, immediately behind the visitor information centre, and the shade is the feature the organisers themselves lead with. The market is run by a volunteer committee rather than an operator, and the stall list reflects a working regional town rather than a tourist strip: fresh produce, food and drinks, arts and crafts, and local small businesses trying to reach the Saturday morning crowd. Katherine is the third largest town in the Northern Territory and the service centre for an enormous catchment, so the market draws from a long way out. The four hour window from 8.30am is the standard Top End compromise, finishing before the middle of the day turns hostile.
Market at a glance
Being behind the visitor centre puts the market directly in the path of the dry season traffic heading to Nitmiluk and on towards Western Australia, so a Saturday in the middle of the season looks very different from one at either end of it.
The town is named after a river, and the river is named after the wrong spelling. On 4 July 1862 the explorer John McDouall Stuart crossed it and wrote in his diary that he had named it Katherine, in honour of the second daughter of James Chambers, his sponsor. Chambers' daughter was Catherine with a C. His wife was Katherine with a K. The K stuck. The present town site, on the south eastern side of the river, was not gazetted until 15 July 1926, after the railway bridge was finished.
Before you go
Saturdays, 8.30am to 12.30pm, dry season only, starting the first Saturday after Easter. If you are travelling outside those months, check before making the trip, because the market genuinely stops. Bring a hat, water and cash. Lindsay Street is central with parking around the complex, and the visitor centre next door is the obvious place to sort out the rest of the day. Nitmiluk National Park and the gorge are about half an hour north east, and the hot springs are a few minutes from the market itself. This is Jawoyn, Dagoman and Wardaman country.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When do the Katherine Community Markets run?
- Saturdays from 8.30am to 12.30pm, through the dry season only. The season commences on the first Saturday after Easter and the market does not run through the wet.
- Where is it held?
- At the Lindsay Street Complex on Lindsay Street, directly behind the visitor information centre, with plenty of shade to sit under.
- Who organises it?
- A volunteer committee. The stalls cover fresh produce, food and drinks, arts and crafts, and local small businesses.
- Is this the same market as K Town Markets?
- No, though both share the Lindsay Street Complex. [K Town Markets](/markets/nt/k-town-markets) trades on Sundays from mid-March to the end of August, a different day and organiser to this Saturday, Easter-to-wet-season market.