Crowds gathered in the new-look Maitland mall as early as 7.30am to scoop up seasonal vegetables that had been picked from the earth less than 24 hours before. 

Almost one tonne of potatoes, 500 cauliflowers, 400 pumpkins, 120 cabbages, 20 kilograms of herbs, and several kilograms of tomatoes, mandarins and limes were sold. 

Most of the produce had been bought before 10.30am. 

Farmer Marco Forman, of Duns Creek, watched his produce quickly disappear and praised shoppers for supporting the city’s farmers.

“It’s so wonderful to see people out and about and getting involved in something local,” Mr Forman said.

“I’m really happy for the vibrancy that this is bringing to the middle of town.”

Farmer Matthew Dennis echoed Mr Forman’s enthusiasm for the stall and thanked shoppers for buying local.

Almost one tonne of potatoes and 500 cauliflowers from his Morpeth Road farm were sold.

“We almost sold out of potatoes, it was a great day and we are very happy with how it all went,” Mr Dennis said.

“Thank you to the council, Slow Food, all the volunteers and the people who came to buy our produce.”

Slow Food Hunter Valley Leader Amorelle Dempster organised the event and had a team of volunteers on hand to help sell the produce.

She said there was strong demand for all of the produce on offer.

“It’s been really wonderful to see all the locals come in and support the local farmers,” Ms Dempster said.

“The produce smells so great, it’s so fresh, its just been picked and a little bit of rain has freshened it up as well. It’s looking really great.

“People want to pay farmers a fair price for their produce.”

Maitland City Council approved the monthly stall as part of its place activation initiative. Council staff asked shoppers for feedback on the stall at the event and free recycled environmentally-friendly bags – boasting The Levee logo – were handed out.

Shoppers relished in using the bags to carry their produce. 

The next market will be held between 8am and 12 noon on Thursday, June 23. 

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Fresh produce is flying off the tables at Maitland’s first monthly produce stall in the new-look mall.

Almost one tonne of potatoes and 500 cauliflower have been sold as well as many kilograms of tomatoes.

Herb, lime and mandarin sales are also strong, and there is strong demand for locally-grown pumpkins.

Shoppers rushed to the stall from 7.30am to 8am and bought up big on their way to work. The stall had another rush from 8.30am until 9am and people are still flowing in.

Slow Food Hunter Valley leader Amorelle Dempster said farmers and volunteers were overwhelmed shoppers were braving the cold snap and had come out to support the initiative.

“People want to pay farmers a fair price for their produce,” she said.

“There’s been people down here buying since 7.30am, at 8.30am you couldn’t move because there were so many people here.”

The stall finishes at 12 noon.