Ohoka Farmers Market

The Ohoka Farmers’ Market is one of Canterbury’s most loved weekly food gatherings — a true farmer-led marketplace that comes alive every Friday morning. It celebrates local growers, seasonal abundance, and the simple pleasure of meeting the people who raise, harvest, bake, brew, or forage the food on your table.

During the summer season, Ohoka becomes a full, sprawling market: stalls overflowing with organic and spray-free produce, orchard fruit, herbs, flowers, sourdough, honey, meat, preserves, ferments, cheeses, seedlings, and specialty small-batch goods. Musicians often play, families wander between the stalls, and locals arrive early with baskets in hand to claim the best of the season before it sells out. It’s colourful, vibrant, and unmistakably alive — a weekly celebration of Canterbury’s food culture.

In winter, the market contracts into a smaller, more intimate version of itself. Fewer stalls, but just as much heart. The growers who show up through cold months are the backbone of the region’s agricultural community — hardy, dependable, and deeply connected to their land. The winter market is quieter, steadier, and particularly loved by locals who prefer a slower pace.

What makes Ohoka stand out is that it remains a true farmers’ market: a place where producers sell directly, where the supply chain is short and transparent, and where conversations about soil, weather, seeds, and seasonality are as much part of the experience as the food itself. Many of the stalls follow organic, spray-free, or regenerative methods, even if not formally certified, and the market draws in ethical artisans whose values align with sustainable, community-rooted food systems.

Whether you visit in the height of summer or the stillness of winter, Ohoka Farmers’ Market offers nourishment beyond produce. It offers relationship — between neighbours, growers, makers, and the land itself. It is a weekly reminder of how food culture thrives when built close to home.