First look: Farmers and Foodies Market opens in Kingston

Canberra clearly loves a food market. The new Farmers and Foodies Market opens on Friday at the old bus depot building in Kingston with fresh produce, meats, groceries and food and drink stalls.

The market will run every Friday from 3pm to 7pm, with the idea being that people can pop through to get their food shopping done after work. Or they can settle in, listen to live music and grab a bite to eat or a glass of wine before heading out to dinner on the foreshore.

Organiser Stacey Allen is an old hand at the market business - she helped set up the Southside Farmers Market at Woden.

"I'm a beef farmer myself, I grow cattle on my property outside Canberra. I know there are other farmers who have trouble getting into the farmers markets," she says. "There's also no supermarket on the Kingston foreshore. So for me it just made sense to link up fresh food producers with the urban people on the foreshore."

"You can sit down and have a glass of wine or beer and think about what you're going to have for dinner and talk to the producers - it's a bit more of an event," she says.

"It's been quite a while in the making. I've got a real passion for food and people really enjoying really good quality food that's been ethically produced, particularly when it comes to meat and poultry it's really important."

Allen hoped to start with 10 stalls but there was a big response and she has signed up 30-odd stalls. "We're really excited. We've got some really amazing ready to eat stalls that will be coming. There will be cheese platters for sale and people can grab a cheese platters and sit on the grass and listen to the band."

You can expect to see Stella Rossa wood-fired bread, the Urban Providore from the Fyshwick Markets, and milk from the dairy at Tilba on the south coast, among others. "Canberrans are very food savvy, they really want to know where it's come from and who's produced it. We've got a really good group of producers," Allen says. "There's fresh veggie, fresh pressed juices, wines, cheese, meats, eggs, ethically produced barbeque chickens. There's everything you could possibly need for your weekly produce shop."

Some might say a Friday afternoon might not be the optimum time for younger public service set who might be more focused on heading out for post-work drinks than picking up groceries. But Allen thinks the market will find its spot. "Our hope is that it becomes part of people's weekly routine. It's not stressful, they can come and catch up with their friends."