Celebrating 30 years of country market in Cork town

For 30 years, the country market in Macroom has forged a connection between food producers and the local community.

In that time, it has moved its base several times, and also expanded to take in crafts and knitwear - but the ethos has remained the same: Providing a place to peruse, to buy and sell your wares, and also to socialise over a cuppa and a chat.

Whether it’s the gorgeous homemade breads, cakes, jams, and savoury pies, fresh vegetables, plants, or intricate ceramics, this is where you will find it - all offered with a friendly chat and a seating area for a cuppa and a connection.

Knowing where your food comes from and even meeting the producer and grower, has become the best way to shop for many people in the past 30 years since the market began.

Pamela LeMon came to the area around that time with her husband and bought a farm in Ballingeary. The couple began to keep sheep and chickens and cultivated a vegetable patch and a fruit garden.

When Pamela heard about the new country market in nearby Macroom, she decided to use her expertise from running a catering business in London and joined the group in 1996.

Using her home-made fruits, she began to make jams and bake cakes and found this a wonderful way to integrate into the community and make friends.

The Macroom Branch of the countrywide Country Market franchise originally had 21 members, many of them farmers’ wives who had surplus produce, be that free range eggs or butter.

Some of them would have wonderful baking skills and would sell their breads and cakes at the weekly gathering.

There was a country market in almost every town back then, with the head office being in Dublin.

Over the years, the Macroom group, which meets on Tuesday mornings, added crafts and knitwear for any of the women who could find the time to make them!

The market was originally stationed at the ICA hall, then the sports hall, and now they have found a happy home in the GAA hall within the town’s castle grounds.

They are hugely grateful for the support offered to them by the local GAA club over the years.

However, the lockdowns during the pandemic took their toll, and some never returned to the market group.

They are down to nine contributors at the moment, but this hasn’t stopped them from moving forward with their plans. They have an organic producer and also cater to those with coeliac disease.

They use all Irish products and use Fairtrade sugar in their baking. The group hope to get more signage and to advert more, to remind people that they are there and open for business.

The quickest items to sell at the gatherings are the in-season vegetables, as well as the cakes and tarts.

Many regulars come in for the portion size cakes as a weekly treat for themselves, their family or their office colleagues.

The shoppers get the warmest of welcomes and the kettle is always on the boil for anyone who wants to sit and chat a while.

Over the years, there have been Irish, English, German, French, Austrian and Polish contributors, and they have won awards for their first class produce and displays, but the numbers of contributors has dwindled of late as lives get busier.

However, there is a revival in interest about the quality of foods we are putting into our bodies, and it is hoped that customer and contributor numbers will grow and the market will be sustained as a viable business.

Pamela says it is wonderful when people bring their children with them to purchase items. “It is so important that they learn about food and crafts and interact with the sellers,” she said.

Our planet needs us to embrace country markets again and to value what is grown and produced within our own localities.

The quality of the artworks and ceramics at the market is second to none and it is a pleasure to watch Michaele Mirtschink spinning the wool from her own alpacas.

She tells me her mother and gran always worked with wool, and she had been practicing the art for more than 40 years.

Tony Miller is the treasurer for the group and reminds people that it is only cash they accept for now.

The Country Market in Macroom is open on Tuesdays from 11am until 12.30pm at the GAA hall in the castle grounds. Check out their Facebook page for more details.