Whanganui's Christmas Night Market draws the crowds

Kelly Scarrow and Darryl Mallett are the organisers of another Christmas Night Market. Photo / Laurel Stowell

Not many public events are held in the last few days before Christmas - and people flocked to Whanganui's Christmas Night Market on December 22.

It started at 2pm and by 2.30pm the car park at the Whanganui racecourse was nearly full. Māori wardens were needed to direct a flow of traffic from Purnell St into and out of the racecourse gate.

Joint venture organisers Daryl Mallett and Kelly Scarrow "couldn't be happier" with the turnout. They had hired the space and there were 128 stalls selling last-minute gift items such as jewellery, cushions and skin care products lining a long grassed alleyway.

The stallholders could register online this year, and were from all over the North Island.

Oscar Londono and Yoana Beltran, from Palmerston North's Dos Locos Taco, cook nachos and churros. Photo / Laurel Stowell

There were also more than 20 food trucks parked up for the Street Food Festival, selling Thai, Mexican, Latin American, North American, paleo and Kiwi food.

Entertainers on a stage at one end of the grassed area were Hot Potato and young singer Molly, from Dannevirke. There was a bar in a contained area near them.

The idea behind the market was to hold a community event on the Sunday before Christmas - a time when nothing else is offering, Scarrow said.

"We wanted to give people a chance to do something at this time. People are looking for things to do, to congregate together and hang out."

The first Christmas Night Market was held on the Whanganui riverbank near the i-Site in 2013. But it outgrew that space, Mallett said.

"We were searching for somewhere that was easier for people to get to, with good parking, and bigger."

The last Christmas Night Market in Whanganui was held in 2016.