The Yard Dundee is returning this weekend with a mixture of food and drink, crafts suppliers and live acoustic music. Here’s everything you need to know.
The Yard marketplace has had a successful run in Perth since the end of 2019, giving local artisan food, drink and craft makers a place to showcase their wares and meet customers face-to-face.
After the soft launch in November with 11 stall holders, The Yard Dundee is returning for the second time this weekend.
The market is local to the area with independent traders and retailers paying £40 to hold a stall in the 71 Brewing beer garden where the event is once again being held.
With a total of 35 stall holders each day, with many of these retailers only being present for one of the days, the event is much larger in size and will be more similar to the event in Perth.
Showcasing local talent
Organiser Stine Hope, 49, is very excited about the event, with her initial idea in Perth now becoming very popular.
Stine commented: “I am super excited because I have one in Perth already which is quite well established. We did a soft version of this in November and from a traders’ perspective they loved it.”
Stine hopes to attract small local businesses and start ups to this market, in an attempt to help showcase their work.
She explains: “We are bringing together the largest amount of independents in a market in Dundee so it’s really exciting. And the fact that they are local and it’s all their own businesses is really great as well.
“That’s really what we are looking for. We want to showcase local talent and people who are just starting to get up and running with their businesses.
“We have a reasonably priced stall fee so start ups can get involved and showcase what they have to offer. So we are really excited.”
Visiting food trucks
The market stalls will include a mixture of food trucks, illustrators, jewellery, ceramics, knitwear, candles, vintage, soap makers and more.
Stine has kept the businesses varied so there is only one type of stall offering their speciality service each day.
Furthermore, the market will have two visiting food trucks for the weekend from The Pitt Market in Edinburgh, including Ròst and Free the Chilli.
Stine commented: “I can’t believe we have two of The Pitt’s main trucks! That’s our intention as we go forward; to bring these guest food traders so people get to try things they wouldn’t normally get to try.”
Local vendors
Other local food vendors include the Wee COOK selling pies, John Scone Mad, Starfish Cakes and Bakes and Jojo’s Bakes.
The bar will be provided by 71 Brewing, alongside live acoustic music from Nicholas Gaul on Saturday and Rain of Animals on Sunday.
The market will be open from noon to 6pm on Saturday and Sunday, with a £2 entry fee and children under 16 can drop in for free.
“I’m hoping this will be busier than last time because we have increased the number of traders and doubled the number of food trucks, and we have music so it’s a much bigger offer than last time around.” Stine explained.
