Toodyay Farmers Market

The Toodyay Farmers Market takes the third Sunday of the month, 9am to 1pm, in Gugulja Park on Stirling Terrace, and it skips January and February entirely, which is a reasonable response to a Wheatbelt summer. It is run by an incorporated not-for-profit group whose stated purpose is to give local and regional people somewhere to sell, promote and advertise what they have grown, produced and raised.

A growers' market rather than a craft market with vegetables

The emphasis is on locally grown and organic produce, with plants, art and craft filling out the rest, and the not-for-profit structure keeps the focus there rather than drifting towards a general market. Toodyay sits on the Avon River in the Wheatbelt about 85 kilometres north east of Perth, close enough for a Sunday drive out from the city and far enough that the producers are genuinely regional. The park puts the market on the town's heritage main street, so the morning naturally extends into the rest of Toodyay.

Stirling Terrace is a listed heritage streetscape and the market trades along it rather than behind it, which is the main reason this one is worth the drive over the closer Perth markets. The trading window is four hours and the produce stalls thin out well before the end.

Worth knowing before the drive out

Third Sunday, 9am to 1pm, and nothing at all in January or February, so summer visitors should check the calendar before committing to the drive. Entry is free and so is the browsing, but bring cash for the growers and your own bags. The drive from Perth runs through the Avon Valley and takes a little over an hour, which makes the market the anchor of a day rather than the whole of it, with Toodyay's museums and the river within walking distance of the stalls. This is Ballardong Noongar country.