Warm smiles at a wet market

It was a persistent rain that greeted the stall holders and shoppers for the Shop Local Christmas Market Day but it wasn’t too cold and lots of people came to the Churchill Shop Local Christmas Market held on the first Saturday in December at Churchill shopping centre. In fact, after a bit of a slow start, the car park was full! Market stalls were spread right around the covered walkways, from Hazelwood Village to West Place, where a number of stalls were also set up indoors.

Santa made his appearance to the delight of the children ...and the adults, greeting shop owners and stall holders as he travelled through the market handing out Santa’s goodies as he went.

The smell of sizzling sausages tempted many to visit the outdoor BBQs, thank you to the volunteers from Churchill Fire Brigade and the Co- operating Churches of Churchill for cooking for the crowd. Santa came, there was music, a fairy entertainer with balloons and bubbles, some cars on show from Pistons Car Club and a wide variety of market stalls – the number of stalls seems to increase with each market; approximately 30 this time!

We had free calendars to hand out (thanks to Darren Chester), notepads from Martin Cameron’s office, biros from Federation University and plenty of free chocolates (courtesy The Reject Shop) and fruit (thanks to Woolworths) to give away. The items that really put a smile on people’s faces were the free shopping vouchers given away to those who were shopping in Churchill on the day. We had over $400 worth of vouchers to hand out, thanks to sponsorship from Energy Australia! In addition, The Reject Shop in Churchill donated some extra vouchers to give away to randomly selected shoppers.

Plenty of gifts to receive and we hope you found some gifts to buy from one of the many market stalls or inside our retail stores. For that’s the point: support our local shopping centre, local employment, and the local community at large - keep our dollars circulating in Churchill.

A big thank-you to Woolworths for their generous support; thanks also to The Reject Shop Churchill for their donations and to Energy Australia for their sponsorship. A special thank you to all the volunteers and community groups who work tirelessly before and during the market to make this event a success. The Churchill – Shop Local program is a partnership between Churchill & District Community Association, Churchill Neighbourhood Centre and Churchill & District News.

We encourage everyone to Shop Local!