On Saturday 14 July Rotary Rotorua North celebrated 30 years of running the Saturday Market.
The idea for a market was the brain child of Rotarian Luke Martin, with the first market day being held on 16 July 1988. At the time stallholders paid $10 for a site, today, 30 years later the fee for a site is $20.
Over these years the club has raised over $800,000 for over 200 different charities and has been held every day rain or shine with the exception of Christmas Day.
July 14 started out typically cool for winter but the rain held off for most of the day.
What better way to celebrate our birthday than by giving back to the community, a free day for stall holders the proceeds normally collected were donated to our Charity of choice - Big Brothers Big Sisters. Several prize draws were going on over the course of the 4 hour formal session and our thanks go to Ka Pai Popcorn, Redwood Butchers, Mosshims, Holders Socks and Rossco’s Espresso Bar for donating prizes for this.
Redwood Butchers were the winners of our $500 sport prize and promptly donated the money back to Rotary to add to the donation for Big Brothers Big Sisters taking the total donation to $1500.
The market has seen its fair share of celebrities over its time including ex Prime Minister John Key, Hone Harawera, local and visiting MP's, Charles Royal, Temuera Morrison and the list goes on..... today we were joined by Mayor Steve Chadwick, MP Jan Tinetti, and District Governor for 9930 Graham Jull as well as Western Heights Interact students, media, our charity Big Brothers Big Sisters, Shelterbox and Rotarians.
A great day, a great achievement and a great example of "Good people doing good things".
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