The traditional night market will again kick off Orange FOOD Week on Friday night, with the market to stick to the tried-and-tested formula that has worked so well in years past.
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Many of the stalls will be the same as last year, albeit switching up their dishes, and the structure of the event will run pretty much exactly as it did last when when over 6500 people turned up to Roberston Park to celebrate the best food and drink the region has to offer.
However, one major player will be missing from last year’s night market – in fact, last year’s festival.
Plastic plates, cutlery and cups will be absent from the festival, which FOOD Week president James Sweetapple, who also owns and manages Cargo Road Wineries, believes makes FOOD Week the first food festival in Australia to go plastic-free.
He said it was “thrilling” to be at the forefront of the effort to cut down on plastic, and said humanity is starting to wake up to the damage of plastic.
“We’re in trouble with plastic,” he said.
“It was revolutionary at the time, but now we know the truth that it’s terrible for the environment.
“You do a bit of a search and you see how bad it is … the oldest bits of plastic are 200 years old and nowhere near degrading.”
Mr Sweetapple also said he hoped visitors to the night markets would take any rubbish home with them, as any contamination of a recycling bin by plastic or rubbish sends the whole bin to landfill.
He said the market itself would be focusing on not just locally grown products but locally produced ones as well.
Pioneer Brewing Company are one of the new additions to the markets, and they have been growing over 85 per cent of the produce they use in their beer, with all their own hops and most of their own barley.
Mr Sweetapple also said it was a chance to find some new favourite places to eat.
“Go and find new restaurants and stalls, try something new from someone you haven’t tried before,” he said.
The weather is set to play into the hands of organisers, with no rain predicted for the lead-up to the event or during the market itself, and Friday is expected to be mid to high 20s.
The FOOD Week night market begins at 5.30pm on Friday, April 6 and runs until 8.30.
Max Stainkamph
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
