Jan Powers Farmers Markets

Overview

Jan Power started her first farmers market in the 1990s — a Stanthorpe farm kid turned London-trained cook who became Brisbane's original foodie, long before "paddock to plate" was a phrase anyone used. Three decades on, it's a family business three generations deep, now run by her daughter Astrid Gates alongside granddaughters Emily, Olivia and India.

The New Farm market has been the flagship since the Brisbane Powerhouse — a former electricity station turned arts venue — opened in 2000, setting up in its forecourt on Lamington Street every Saturday morning. Stallholders sell direct: fruit and veg, artisan cheese, smallgoods, handmade pasta and bread, backed by coffee vans and food trucks doing acai bowls, loaded bagels and curries for anyone shopping on an empty stomach. It's dog-friendly, and a short walk gets you and your haul to New Farm Park for a riverfront picnic.

Two more sites have joined it since: Eagle Farm Racecourse runs every Sunday, and Manly Harbour's Royal Esplanade runs the first and third Saturday of the month, each with its own stallholder lineup but the same rule behind every stall.

That rule hasn't changed since the 1990s — every stallholder sells what they personally grow, make or pull out of the ground themselves, not what they've bought in to resell.

Images: Supplied.

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