A family affair

It’s hard to tell whether the creators of the Hunter’s Homegrown Markets have built the markets around family or their family around the markets, because both are equally true.

Lauren and Lewis Kearney launched Homegrown Markets in 2019 with their eldest son, Elijah, now six, in tow.

The inaugural event at The Station in Newcastle was a huge success, with Lauren drawing on her stallholder experience as a candlemaker. “You wouldn’t believe it now, but back then there weren’t many markets around and those that did exist were hard to get into regularly,” Lauren tells Hunter & Coastal Lifestyle.

“We knew loads of local small businesses looking for an opening, so, we thought, let’s bring them together. “We didn’t have any experience running a market but the organisation that manages [The Station] was so supportive and saw our passion. We got lucky with beautiful June weather and the community really got behind us.”

At their second market, Lewis proposed to Lauren and the pair celebrated their engagement in front of hundreds of strangers who would soon become some of their closest friends.

“Lewis had arranged for one of the musicians to sing our favourite song,” Lauren recalls fondly.

“It’s so special looking back on it now because at the time, we didn’t know our stallholders all that well, but five years on they’re like family and they’re in the background of all our engagement photos.”

Within a few months, Homegrown Markets expanded to Speers Point Park, bringing its signature hyperlocal style and family-friendly essence to Lake Macquarie.

As British expats, the Kearneys came to love the supportive community they had built. “Everyone looks out for one another,” Lauren adds.

“They help set up each other’s marquees and if a storm randomly rolls in, nobody packs up alone. You’ve never seen anything like it.

“It’s an incredible culture that our regular customers have embraced, too.”

Fast forward to today, the Homegrown Markets have exploded onto the local market scene, with events every first and third Sunday at Speers Point and every second Sunday in Newcastle, as well as seasonally at Bimbadgen Estate in the Hunter Valley, which often feature workshops.

Read the full story the Winter Edition of Hunter & Coastal Lifestyle Magazine or subscribe here.

Story by Georgia Osland, Photography by AK Media Co.