It has been the place to buy local products for 40 years
THE amount of jams made, pot plants sold or vegetables eaten in the last 40 years at the Yeppoon Community Markets would be hard to count.
But it's the many memories that fit into four decades that the community group was celebrating on April 16.
YCM's Judy Hirning said their 40-year anniversary party was a great success.
"A free sausage sizzle and birthday cake, lucky spot vouchers, lucky number stallholder vouchers, balloons everywhere and plenty of wonderful market supporters made for a fantastic day," she said. "Forty years has gone by so fast, with new stallholders coming and old stallholders retiring.
"The market has so many different stalls and is a real social occasion for so many."
The YCM started back in 1976 as a Rotary project with about six stalls.
Mrs Hirning said Jim Stephens, a Rotarian and farmer, was its founder.
"He modelled our market on a market he had seen in England," she said.
"For the first few years the market was held in Queen Street behind the Savemore Centre, then moving into the front car park of the centre.
"The market was taken over from the Rotary Club and named the Yeppoon Community Market, moving into the Showgrounds, and we have rented there every Saturday morning until the present time."
Standing in for original stallholder, Colin Brown (who is in hospital), his daughter, Melissa, and granddaughter, Aleisha McMahon at the Yeppoon Community Markets.
The name Yeppoon Community Market was a result of their donations to other organisations and individuals.
"The sole aim from the beginning of the market was to provide an outlet for stallholders and to return the profits from the stall fees back into the community which has been done very successfully for all these years," Mrs Hirning said.
"Over the years we have donated 11 Blue Care vehicles, paid half ($22,000) of the first four-wheel drive ambulance used in this area.
"We also paid for the Gus Moore Pavilion in the Showgrounds, made a considerable donation to the Gymnastic Club's Pavilion also in the Showgrounds, building donations to the RSL and CWA."
"These are only some of the organisations and groups that we've contributed to over the past 40 years," Mrs Hirning said.
"The chances are most people in our community have benefited in some way from donations made by the market either directly or indirectly.
"If you have sat on a seat in Beaman Park, had children in one of our sports clubs, read a donated book from the library, had children enjoy animals in the petting zoo at the Yeppoon Show, had a family member attended to by a Blue Care nurse, it's quite possible that the Yeppoon Community Market had some input.
"All of this of course, could not have happened without the support of the great stallholders, loyal customers and dedicated volunteers who give freely of their time week after week."
Yeppoon Community Markets stallholders Stan and Daphne Barlow.
COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS
IN addition to major projects, the YCM has also donated to Yeppoon Show Society, Livingstone Shire Council, Yeppoon Coast Guard, Schools, SES, Rural Fire Brigades, Scouts and Guides, Surf Life Saving Clubs, Life Education, Meals on Wheels, Choral Society, RSL Cenotaph, Byfield Historical Society, Football and Soccer Clubs, Yeppoon Hospital, Capricorn Coast Tourist Organisation - final payment of $3200 on loan as well as yearly payments, Causeway Playground, Yeppoon Kindergarten, High School Chaplaincy, Capricorn Coast Outriggers, Library books presented for Anzac Day, Radio Nag, Basketball Club, Dirt Riders, Waru Permaculture Group, Emu Park Camp for Children with Disabilities, Beach Potters, Junior Cricket, Karate Clubs, Capricorn Wildlife Welfare Association, Aussie Cheer Leaders, Cawarral Cuppa for Cancer, Taranganba Sea Skippers, Army Cadet Unit, Rockhampton Eisteddfod, Capricorn Helicopter Rescue Service, CARV Action Group, Capricorn Coast Mallet Sports Club, Bella's Appeal, Blaze Aid, Mt. Chalmers Community History Centre, Lapidary Club and Yeppoon Lions Club.