Crib Point Community Market
A monthly indoor and outdoor market at the community house, in a Western Port town named after fishermen's huts.
About this market
The Crib Point Community Market trades on the second Saturday of the month from 9am to 1pm, run out of the Crib Point Community House on Park Road. It splits across indoor and outdoor stalls, which in a town on the exposed western side of Western Port is a practical decision rather than a stylistic one.
Handmade, home grown and second hand
The market keeps to three categories: locally produced handcrafted goods, local produce, and presentable recycled goods. That last phrase is doing real work, because it sets a standard without pretending the market is something it is not, and it is why the second hand end of the stall list is browsable rather than a pile. The organisers describe the spirit of the thing as community support and inclusion in a relaxed and social setting, and a market attached to a community house tends to mean it: the same building runs classes and services through the week, and the market is the month's front door to it. Crib Point sits about 64 kilometres south east of Melbourne, between Hastings and the naval base, on the Mornington Peninsula's quieter bay side.
Market at a glance
Being run from the community house rather than a reserve or a car park gives the market a fixed indoor core it can fall back on, so a wet second Saturday shrinks the market rather than cancelling it.
The town is named after fishermen's huts. A crib was a rough shelter, and the ones built along this shore by fisherfolk in the 1850s are the likeliest source of the name. Defence turned the place into something bigger: in the 1880s, with Port Phillip Bay fortified, authorities began treating Western Port as the alternative invasion route, and in 1889 a railway line was pushed through from Frankston to Crib Point so troops could be moved here quickly. The Flinders Naval Depot went up between 1912 and 1920 just to the south west and opened in 1921, later renamed HMAS Cerberus after the ironclad that led the colonial Victorian Navy.
Practical notes
Second Saturday, 9am to 1pm, at 7 Park Road. Bring cash and bags. Parking is at the community house and on the surrounding streets. Western Port weather is its own thing and the wind off the bay can make a still forecast feel wrong, so bring a layer. Crib Point is an easy detour from the Hastings side of the peninsula, and the jetty and foreshore are a few minutes north of the town centre if you want to make more of the morning. This is Bunurong country.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When is the Crib Point Community Market on?
- The second Saturday of the month, from 9am to 1pm, at the Crib Point Community House, 7 Park Road.
- Is it indoors or outdoors?
- Both. The market runs indoor and outdoor stalls, so it trades regardless of what the weather off Western Port is doing.
- What sort of stalls are there?
- Locally produced handcrafted goods, local produce and presentable recycled goods. The organisers describe the spirit of the market as community support and inclusion in a relaxed, social setting.