Not another Hipster Market

“What is a Hipster?” I hear you saying… Well, let me explain briefly.

This is rather a touchy subject, as Hipster’s don’t like to be defined, because then they’d fit in a category and thus be too mainstream. And they shun all things mainstream.

But here are the basics of How to spot a Hipster.

Most often seen congregated in urban settings, (art galleries, café’s, used book stores, open markets, live music shows) wielding an I phone, instagramming pics of their food and passing comments like “I liked (insert name of indie underground band) before they were cool”.
The men are usually seen in skinny jeans, V neck tee shirts, thick rimmed “Andy Warhol” glasses and some sort of impractical but ‘stylish’ headdress.
The women either do the whole skinny jean look too, or the vintage floral or lace dress, flat shoes, thick belt and comically bright thick rimmed dark glasses. Scarves are also quite an ‘in’ thing.
Hipsters are usually well-educated and often art, music or fashion students.
Huge fans of ‘retro’ things, dream like images, being vegetarian, indie music and foreign films.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me get back to important things.

Shongweni Farmers Market is thankfully not one of those fashionable places that attract the Snobs, Yuppies or Hipsters who walk around in ‘high fashion’ attempting to look cool, calm and collected.
(For some unknown reason my mind is being tugged at by Billy Joel’s lyrics: “You can’t dress trashy till you spend a lot of money”) Go away Billy, let me write.

This is a place where the real down to earth people go. The kind of person, who catches your eye as you pass by and gives you a fleeting smile or a brief nod of greeting. These are type of people who get up at sparrows on a Saturday morning to enjoy the market.  Some of them with their dogs in tow (and quite a few others towed by their dogs).
There’s no pushing, loud music, or dreadful PA system, it’s very much as its name states, a farmers market.
There are however, a few live musicians busking here and there (thankfully no dead ones) and those I’ve seen have been pretty darn good.

(okay okay, I’ll stop with he bad jokes)

The market has a myriad of different food stalls, from fruit and veg to homemade cheeses, breads, muffins etc. Be sure to get there early, (The market starts at 6am) before the favorite stocks are depleted.

It also has some really cool novelty clothing stalls, and a whole bunch of the craft market type ones too.

I had the good fortune to be shown around by my 16 year old cousin, and thanks to his good taste our first port of call upon arrival was a bee line to some of the best hot chocolate ever. 2^nd stop is The Puzzle Place, a serious mind boggle.And 3rdly PANCAKES! 😀
Teenage boys are so uncomplicated. 🙂

Besides stall hopping, a lot of our time was spent wondering around greeting and patting all the passing dogs, every shape, size and disposition imaginable.

Do yourself a favour next time you’re in Durbs, go spend a morning at the farmers market.  You’ll be surrounded by some really nice people, scrumptious food and a relaxed vibe.

The market is situated on the corner of Kassier and Alvestone roads, Assagay and is open from 6am – 10:30 am every Saturday.