Playing at Markets
I decided to start singing full time at the very start of this year, and one of my main goals has been to gig and busk around Auckland as much as I can. Markets have been a great place for me to share my music this year, and I love the atmosphere that each one brings.
The Browns Bay Sunday morning market is the first one that I played at properly, and at the start of the year I was going along every week. It quickly became too difficult though, as there is no cover for my gear and I would wake up to wet weather even though I planned to go. I plan to play there again when it's less rainy, as the Coastguard organisers are super friendly and there are a wide range of stalls from locals. They often had lots of families there and so the atmosphere was super lovely.
The beautiful Coatesville market was one that I played in the start of April. The weather was so nice, to the point where I ended up getting super burnt! Despite that, it ended up being one of my favourite market gigs. There were blankets laid out under the trees opposite where I was playing, so people could grab some of the tasty food and drinks and sit in the shade to watch me. All of the stallholders around where I was playing made me feel so welcome, and I left feeling so positive and uplifted by everyone's kindness.
The very busy Matakana Village Farmers Market had me play at the end of April. They have really high quality products including some super tasty and fresh food. Like the Coatesville Market, I played for a four hour time slot, with a mix of covers and originals. It luckily only showered once during that time which meant that people could sit in front of where I was playing, including lots of cute kiddies! I loved that it was such a diverse group of people, at because it's not my local area, it was nice to play to a different audience.
A bit of a different one for me was playing at the market called Crafternoon Tea. They're unique because they change location between market dates and so different areas can experience their awesome products. This market includes many stalls that offer high quality handmade goods of a wide variety. It's just so beautiful to walk around and see all of the artistic products and smiley faces.