The Village Market @ Helensville Showgrounds

The Village Market takes over the Helensville A&P Showgrounds on the third Sunday of most months, and it has the unhurried feel of a country market rather than a city one. Stalls run to fresh local produce, flowers and seedlings, artisan food and preserves, handmade craft and gifts, collectibles and pre-loved goods, with food carts and a coffee queue somewhere near the middle of it. Live music plays through the morning. Because it is held on the showgrounds there is far more room than a village market usually gets, so children can wander the trestle tables and then run about on the grass, and prams and scooters have space to move. It is free to walk in, and the same stallholders come back month after month, so regulars get to know them. Dogs are not allowed, apart from assistance dogs.