Craft stalls, entertainments

Press, 4 December 1981, Page 9

Craft stalls, entertainments

A regular Saturday market starts at the Christchurch Arts Centre in Worcester Street tomorrow. The market will be operating every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until March 27, except for Boxing Day, and all the 25 stalls have’ been leased for the duration. A wide range of arts and crafts will be on sale, including antiques, candles, pottery, paintings, ironwork, jewellery, leather goods, herb products, silverware, homespun jerseys, jade carving and woodcraft. Since the craftspeople will be manning their own stalls week by week, they will be able to meet their customers and talk about their work to those interested. Besides meeting the producers, customers will have the advantage of lower prices than could be offered through permanent retail outlets, and there will be the possibility of ordering goods, as well as being able to choose from those on display. Live entertainment will be provided for both children and adults, with two. hourlong activities planned for each Saturday. Giant inflatables. clowns’ theatre, music and buskers will all be there at various times to divert and amuse visitors. Among the better-known groups to perform will be the Christchurch-based Threepenny Folly, which has given many children's con-

certs and will be seen in the Arts Centre in January. To extend the entertainment beyond the two hours, the centre’s director. Mr Ray Sleeman. would be pleased to hear from any entertainers who would like’ to take part. In addition to the stalls and entertainments, local activity groups will make use of artists’ stands to display their work. Tomorrow, it will be the turn of the Wairakei Craft Group, followed by the Mount Pleasant Art Group the following week. There are still some weeks left for which the stands are not yet booked, and enquiries are welcome. Mr Sleeman says the idea of the market is first to give craftspeople the chance to sell their own hand-crafted products directly to the public and. second, to help popularise the Arts Centre as a place with “something for everybody.’’ The stalls have been built to order for the centre, ACROW Carpenter, Ltd. having constructed the frames and Helmarco Products, Ltd, having made the colourful, striped awnings. Market stall-holders pay $l2 a week, apart from the first three weeks, which are free, and it is intended that the market become an annual event for six months from October to March. When not in use. the stalls will be available for hire to community groups at a “modest charge.”