Emu Plains Market

Seven markets a year, all of them in the warm half of it. Emu Plains Market runs on the reserve at Balnarring from October through to April, takes the winter off, and packs more than 200 stallholders onto the grass on the third Saturday of each month it runs.

Produce, makers and a serious vintage contingent

The mix is farm fresh local produce and gourmet food alongside handcrafted pieces, sustainably made goods and vintage clothing, with live music running through the morning. The Mornington Peninsula grows a lot and makes a lot, and a market that only opens seven times a year gets the pick of both.

A seven market season concentrates things. Stallholders who might spread themselves across a dozen dates elsewhere put everything into these, and the crowd knows the dates are finite.

Good to know before you go

Bring a five dollar note for the parking and get in early, because a two hundred stall market on a peninsula reserve in summer draws a crowd and the parking fills. Take a hat and water: this is open ground with limited shade and an October to April season means the hot end of the year. Balnarring beach and the peninsula's wineries are both close, which is why a lot of people build the market into a longer day rather than driving down and straight back.