The new Bathers Beach Sunset Food Markets, Fremantle, has a variety of international food. Shopping at such a Market puts the 'customer' in a situation completely different from going to the supermarket. The customer is much more in touch with the land, learning to eat foods that normally they wouldn't, experiencing the foods from other cultures. The variety of items one can find at these Market is astonishing.
However, when I viewed the pictures from our very awesome Mayor or Fremantle Dr Brad Pettitt and well respected Fremantle blogger Roel Loopers (see below), I instantly recognised that a large focus of the Market is the building of community, both in and out of the Market itself. One thing that draws people to a Market such as this is its friendly atmosphere. This is a place where you can build relationships with others, learn to know each other, begin to exchange stories and events of the week in addition to experiencing eating great international foods. Events such as the Bathers Beach Sunset Food Market, drew in large numbers of people and this gives a real sense of place to the community.
So why would a Market such as this create a sense of place. Well, people's sense of community is that the members have a shared emotional connection. This element seems to be the defining feature for people to experience a true sense of community. There are many features that facilitate people having shared emotional connections. One feature that connects to the physical features of a community is that people have an emotional connection with each other when they have a shared common interest, in this case, food. Shared emotional connections are often experienced in public spaces, which can generate or restore a deep sense of community through providing people places to socialise and interact with each other. People need places where they can socially interact with each other on a non-commercial level.
Food plays an essential role in building community. One of the things that has changed so much in just my lifetime is our relationship to food and community. Many of us no longer have the experience of having meals together with our families or friends due to our busy lifestyles. It’s exciting to see that there’s a renaissance of people realising how important it is to use food as a way to connect with each other. People are doing this in all kinds of creative, inspired, and fun ways and these such Markets provide a valuable sense of community.
The Market is held within the community so this means you will be seeing locals every time you go. This regular meeting provides an opportunity to ‘catch up’ and 'slow down', to make a real connection, meaning, being part of the slow movement, providing the opportunity to sit and while the time away with other people. Such Markets serve as an anchor attraction for a community, drawing foot traffic which, with the right location, spills into adjacent retail areas and can spark revitalisation.
Markets are community anchors which provide a way to bring people together, anchoring a community around food and place.
One of the greatest things about this Market is its ability to generate happiness and good will at the heart of a community.
Photo from our very own Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt - check out his blog at:
Spot on... the shared meal is deep in humans from our distant past. Which is why we need to recreate small communities as we drown in larger ones I suppose.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteYour spot on too -and I agree with he word 'recreate' too, as I feel that as we are becoming such a large mass of people, we are loosing our sense of place - and a sustainable healthy community is where people are well connected. This is why it was so great to see how the Fremantle community gathered together at the Market.