Small and Mighty Children’s Market

SMALL and Mighty Children’s Market will return to St Patrick’s Hall this Sunday, 19 May from 10am to 3pm.

As Ballarat’s only exclusive babies and children’s market, it attracts a variety of apparel, accessory and toy brands.

Around 35 businesses will be in the hall this weekend, and coordinator, Georgia Fiske said the market is a warm space where quality stall holders are a creative family.

“Everyone really gets along, supports each other and buys from each other,” she said. “We get people travelling as far as Frankston, Sorrento, Bendigo, Maryborough and Geelong.”

Most stallholders are women or family businesses that design from scratch, with lots hand-making their wares.

“Many of the brands are mums,” Mrs Fiske said, herself a mother to three. “They work or are with their children in the day, and sit up and sew at night.”

Mother of four girls, Emma Spong enjoys bringing along her 10-year-old business, Pretty in Bows.

“I do love the market here. The quality of all the pieces is amazing,” she said. “There’s still that percentage of people that don’t buy online, they want to see it for themselves. “I’ll always get my regular customers and there’s new people that don’t even know that I’m in Ballarat. I’ve been here for 11 years.”

The central location makes it easy to wander through the stalls and grab a coffee over the road.

“People really enjoy going out to markets,” Mrs Fiske said. “It’s like an outing, they seem to get all their friends together and they make a day of it.”

Entry is free, but shoppers can give a gold coin as they enter St Patrick’s Hall, which will be donated to Eureka Mums. Discover more at smallmightychildrensmarket.com.