How a simple idea became one of Tasmania’s most loved community spaces.
Every Saturday morning, long before the first basket is filled with fresh produce, something else is exchanged at the Harvest Market in Launceston. People greet one another by name. Growers talk about the season that has been. Dogs wag at the gate as regulars exchange a pat for a feeling of belonging. Customers ask how families are going. Locals and visitors linger a little longer than they intended. It is a place where food connects people, but relationships keep them coming back.
It is difficult now to imagine Saturday in Launceston without the market. Yet like many ideas that become woven into the fabric of a community, it arrived in parts to be put together by a network of people. It emerged gradually, built through the tools and skills of conversations, shared purpose and a growing network of people who believed northern Tasmania deserved a place where local producers and local communities could meet directly.
TLP3 alumna Jen Edis arrived in Launceston with her family, a new baby on the way and a burning question: where was the farmers market? She joined the 2009 Tasmanian Leaders cohort to build her connection to place and understand her leadership so she could make the market a reality. Through Tasmanian Leaders, then facilitators Gillian Biscoe and Brian Lewis, Jen was connected with their old friend and another new Tasmanian arrival Mary Mulvaney, who became Jen’s partner in crime driving the establishment of the market. From there a board emerged including TL Leadership Champion, Kim Seagram AO, a passionate food and wine sector business leader. They saw not only the potential for a market, but the opportunity across the whole food system to strengthen connections that already existed connecting growers, emerging farmers, entrepreneurs and producers by sharing all local Tasmanian produce.
Their collective contribution to the Harvest Community Farmers Market vision was critical, but not centre of the story. Jen and Kim catalysed others, activating each new node until the market opened in 2012, signalling a beginning that is still unfolding as the system matures and diverges. Jen, Mary, Kim and the board catalysed others from the community, activating each new node until the market opening in 2012 signalled a beginning that is still unfolding as the system matures and diverges. It takes over thirty volunteers plus board and management each week to activate the beloved award winning market, that the The Sydney Morning Herald called ‘a city market with a country heartbeat.’ The market has been awarded twice Australia’s Most Outstanding Farmers Market in Delicious Magazine Produce Awards.
On an island, relationships matter. As the connection between Jen and Kim demonstrates, the distance between sectors is short enough for conversations to become collaborations and for individual ideas to gather collective momentum. A producer introduces another producer. A volunteer knows someone who can help. Local government, businesses and community organisations each contribute something different. Gradually, ownership shifts from a handful of people to an entire community.
In the case of the Harvest Market, from the coalescence of pride and produce emerged the dream of a region celebrating its place in the global community, spurring on the ambitious and ultimately successful application to make Launceston a UNESCO City of Gastronomy. That chapter was led by another Tasmanian Leaders alumni, Andrew Pitt from TLP8, an intergenerational business owner who took the baton of involvement with Harvest and his local chamber of commerce, to secure a designation that would have been unimaginable before the Harvest Market.
From little things big things grow. Harvest germinated other shoots, rhizomes, companion plants, and a whole mycelial network of food and produce-based ventures continues to emerge – the latest being FermenTas and its FermentHQ, a state-of-the-art collaborative space for makers, producers, chefs, researchers and educators that is again connecting Tasmania to the world.
What began as a desire for a local farmers market evolved into one of Tasmania’s most recognised community spaces, supporting local growers, strengthening regional enterprise and reconnecting people with the stories behind their food. More than a marketplace, it became a meeting place for humans and their ideas – where big dreams were championed with the skills and will to make them happen.
For more than twenty years, participants have been challenged to step beyond the boundaries of their own organisations and industries, building relationships across sectors and communities while working on issues that matter to Tasmania. The program does not ask people to become heroic leaders. It asks them to become curious collaborators, generous contributors and trusted leadership champions who understand that meaningful change is rarely achieved alone – and legacy as a leader is letting an idea go to grow to its full size.hip champions who understand that meaningful change is rarely achieved alone – and legacy as a leader is letting an idea go to grow to its full size.
