Cape Town market lovers should prepare themselves as the often-touted Oranjezicht Market will be relaunching at its new location with the V&A Waterfront early next month.

The Oranjezicht Market, a community farmers-style market for independent local farmers and artisanal food producers, is now in its tenth year.

The farm was founded and operated for years as a non-profit organisation. From December 2017, the Market was sold and has been operating as an independent private company using the Oranjezicht brand under licence.

The V&A Waterfront has constructed a wooden shed with the design of a well-known architect.

During a walkabout tour of the new location, V&A Waterfront’s CEO, David Green, said that the market has consistently ranked in the top 10 farmers’ markets in the world, “which is a really big thing”.

The new location is bigger, and has “an authenticity” and “grounded vibe about it rather than gentrification”.

The signature woodchips will remain, and the market will remain dog-friendly.

While on the tour, Green said: “As you grow and formalise, things like an extraction system for the cooking, we’ve put a lot of investment into creating this food area.”

Green explained that before the launch at the new location, they are looking at doing one last night market at the old location.

“The traders have all been in (to tour the new location), and they know where their spots are. They are excited.

“It is really starting to take shape.”

Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille, who was briefly in attendance during the tour, said that it looked beautiful.

Green said that the change in location feels like the right thing to do, to “lift it another level”.

“The market has been there 10 years… it came (to us) initially temporarily, and then it has just grown and grown, and done well. I think this is progress,” he said.

According to Green, he has come across people who don’t see it as progress, but the “great thing about Cape Town is that you’re never short of an opinion”.

When asked if the new location would be the permanent location of the new market, he answered, “What is permanent?”

“In a restaurant, 5-10 years is permanent. People always expect something new and different, so I would say it is permanent until we find the next iteration.”

Green said that they foresee the market being part of their Granger Bay plans for the V&A Waterfront, as for important things that work, “then you incorporate them, you don’t try and sweep them aside”.

He also said that the new location allows for an interconnectivity with the waterfront, “rather than being self-standalone, it has that connectivity and flow”.

The new spot will also have more parking bays.

theolin.tembo@inl.co.za

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