The Gap Farmers’ Market continues to enhance life in the suburbs by bringing the Sunlit Sounds Festival to Brisbane on Sunday, 25 June. Scheduled to bring an afternoon of creativity and entertainment, the event will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Hilder Road State School in The Gap to honour Brisbane’s diverse striped sunlight sounds.
The Market and the Festival
The Farmers’ Market, as an initiative of The Gap Residents Association (GAPRA), a non-profit organisation, supports a number of causes and values. Their regular markets will be paying for the performance fees for the event for three years, a value totalling $25,000. They will also contribute much-needed funds for Hilder Road State School and Micah Projects. The upcoming festival also has a line-up of professional volunteers who will serve as the media manager, graphic designer, accountant, lawyer, and music coordinator for the event.
The list of performers include:
- We All Want To (featuring Tim Steward of Screamfeeder)
- Burning Circuits (Ben Ely from Regurgitator)
- Mick Medew and the Mesmerisers
- Yuuca
- Port Royal
A Creative Hub
The Sunlit Sounds Festival is also the artists’ way of bringing together inner west suburbs such as Ashgrove and The Gap. These suburbs have been growing rapidly with a growing number of creative hubs that have plenty of sound and film studios set up from home, which has caught the attention of the artists.
Ben Ely of Regurgitator lives in Ashgrove. He says that the housing affordability and the constant socio-cultural changes in these suburbs are paving the way for more creative souls to come out. This, in turn, helps The Gap evolve into a suburb brimming with creativity and culture.
Tim Steward of Screamfeeder also noticed this trend. Tim lives in The Gap. He compared the cultural undercurrents rippling out from West End to Manhattan Island in New York City.
He said that wealthy people move to artistic areas to “absorb some cool, by osmosis” but fail. Instead, the wealthy folks attract similar people into the area, eventually changing the nature of the suburb, turning it inside out and making it a wealthy suburb. This then drives the artists away due to the higher housing prices. Another cycle then begins, when these displaced artists look for other suburbs to live in, set in a new artistic feel in the suburb and so on.
Mr Steward also mentioned that The Gap is less expensive than other nearby suburbs such as Bardon and Red Hill. He wishes that it will stay this way in the suburb for a while longer.
Changes To the Market
The Gap Farmers’ Market has also made some changes. They have moved to a place with a more relaxed vibe, under the shade of trees which provides a fresh canopy for a batch of new stallholders:
- Liam the Farmer from Lot 81 Microfarm
- Gourmet Crispy Potato Cakes
- Marcus from Amalua Farm
- Hetty’s Juices
They will also be welcoming new musicians from the Jazz Music Institute, The Queensland Conservatorium of Music, and local talents to entertain the crowd whilst shopping.
Follow their schedule updates on their Facebook page and their event page.
