No matter how many markets you've checked out, the one in Eumundi has to be one of the biggest and - with its canopy of historic and protected fig trees to provide shade from the fierce Queensland sun - it's certainly the prettiest and most pleasant outdoor market to stroll around.
Its 600 stalls set up over 1.6ha attract 1.6 million people annually which, general manager Peter Homan says, is more pulling power than Australia Zoo at nearby Beerwah.
The market proudly claims it'll be open for business "every Saturday and Wednesday of the year come rain, hail or shine" and, says Homan, "they've never had to be called off in 28 years."
The market started as an economic response to the death knell that clanged resoundingly as the new highway by-passed a town that, until then, travellers had no choice but to visit or at least drive through.
With its dairy and timber industries already faltering, Eumundi could have been turned into another sleepy hollow, but instead it came out fighting. Well, actually it was three local women who came out fighting.
They believed a market was a way to bring money into the community. Their first market day in March 1979 comprised three stalls selling home-made crafts and preserves. And, says Homan, since then the growth has been phenomenal.
Nowadays, many of the stall holders make the one-hour drive from Brisbane once or twice a week while the rest live locally and along the coast.
Some were so impressed by the stories of the tourist dollars changing hands that they packed up and moved from other cities to become Sunshine Coast locals and Eumundi Market stall-holders.
Everything's on offer, from fresh produce, hot food and drinks, home-made fudge and real fruit juices to furniture, clothing, kangaroo leather bags, briefcases and belts, jewellery, soaps and candles, sculptures, paintings, puzzles and toys, seedlings, shrubs and bonsai trees.
Or you can just sit back, lean forward or lie down and have your body parts manipulated, massaged and manoeuvred, slathered in lotions, soaked in potions or simply read and analysed to find out what ails you.
The philosophy of the markets has been to offer high quality, locally made products, with a preferred policy of "make it, bake it, sew it and grow it" - but by no means everything is homegrown.
Chalish Koroglu who has been a Eumundi Market regular almost since it began, frequently travels to Turkey, bringing home hand-knotted tribal rugs and textiles and divides his time between the Eumundi Markets and the Sunday Riverside Market in Brisbane.
Part of the attraction is that as well as the amazing range of stalls there's also an enthusiastic and ever-changing festival atmosphere with entertainers busking on every corner or mingling with the crowds.
Hush Hush Usherette and Pop Pop Poppy (aka Madonna Rogerson and Cheryl Ladlow from nearby Cooran) are two entertainers who regularly work the crowds at Eumundi, dressed as old-fashioned belles of the movie theatres, and offering bucket-loads of popcorn and gallons of flirtation.
The often-raucous pair have also been known to turn out as brides on the hunt for husbands or self-appointed fashion police.
Mark Bromilow has literally been standing around at the markets for the past 15 years, painting himself silver and standing like a statue, intriguing children and adults alike.
Donna Egan delights children - and the child in every adult - by pulling, twisting, knotting and tying around 200 balloons into around 60 animals and items ranging from a helicopter and a motorbike to a monkey in a tree and a pineapple hat.
The 27-year-old has been creating with balloons since she was 13 and says she's still inventing. She was lured to Eumundi's markets from Perth with her partner, carpenter-turned-comedian juggler, Great Scott, who is also a Eumundi market regular.
All of this makes a market visit great fun but it's also, says Homan, a thriving business operation with some remarkable success stories.
"It's certainly not the market it used to be. It has become quite sophisticated and some [stallholders] have made enough money from working here every Saturday to put their children through school and buy a house.
"This time last year, for instance, one of our artists was approached by a representative from a hotel in Western Australia who wanted an original painting for every room. It took her about eight months, but she filled the order for 258 paintings, and each of her works usually sells for several thousand dollars. She took her whole family to Europe and now she's back here every market day."
A local sculptor whose wood and glass artworks sell from $5000 to $15,000 is currently fulfilling a commission on location in Dubai.
But it's not all about raking in the dollars and making a fortune healthy enough for an early retirement.
Many of Eumundi Market's vendors are true originals, like Di and Terry West, who have been heating the skillet and frothing the milk at the markets for 23 years, in between a stint at selling plants and pottery.
Others are second generation market traders. For instance, the Wests' 25-year-old son, Ben, remembers hanging out behind the counter as a toddler, and now - having done his OE - he's returned to run his own cafe, Don Benucci.
"Dad used to call me 'Benny Benucci' when I was little," says Ben. "When I was starting up the cafe I wanted a name that made you think of Italy and good coffee and we came up with Don Benucci."
Under the same canopy, Ben's parents and his sister Belinda take turns to flip hundreds of tiny Dutch pancakes - called poffertjes - on the skillet. For $5 you get 10, drizzled with maple syrup or lemon butter and icing sugar.
It's the perfect way to get the energy to explore the rest of what the market has to offer.
EUMUNDI MARKET
Getting there: Flight Centre has a range of flights to Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.
Where to stay: For deals on accommodation see wotif.com.
What to do: Visit Eumundi Markets.
Victoria Bartle visited the Sunshine Coast courtesy of Flight Centre and wotif.com.
