Market on Brown Street – you want to experience the vibe!

MBOMBELA – Sunday’s Brown Street market was a collaboration of the things that make life great. Alternative artists, entrepreneurs and providers of delicious food and drinks combined efforts to create a very enjoyable event. The vibe was tangible and Lowvelder was there to see what the buzz was about.

Organisers Erven Mthimkulu and Muhle Maluleke were very pleased to see Mbombela embrace the idea. Erven is in charge of the market’s social media and told Lowvelder that the Facebook page, market/onbrownstreet, has reached more than 4 000 people. “This is great, because it helps us to reach our goal, which is to provide people with a platform to live out their passion. Market on Brown Street is about passion. The people who provide goods and services here once a month, do so because they love it. It’s about passion more than anything else.

This initiative also aims to bring life to Mbombela’s CBD and has received much assistance from the Mbombela City Improvement District (CID), which offers us these premises to operate from.” The market runs on the third weekend of each month. The stalls are set up in the alley between the Orion Hotel Promenade and the lane of stores that lead from Samora Machel Street to the Promenade Shopping Centre.

Shoppers can find an array of wonderful things at the market. Delicious cocktails are mixed in front of you while groups of dancers offer entertainment to the beats of traditional musicians. Different sandwich stalls offer something for every liking – not even a chilli-flavoured milkshake is too much to ask for. A foot massage and a pedicure offer some luxury as the market even has a mobile spa. A vast array of coffee for the discerning coffee drinker are available and beer connoisseurs can treat themselves to various craft beers. Decor items, jewellery and clothing are also for sale and the creativity promises to increase every month, according to Muhle. “Mbombela has been craving something like this for so long. All of the products are sold by independent entrepreneurs; the beer man, the chilli guy, the coffee bro and the jewellery girls. They are all doing their own thing and loving it. It’s alternative and it’s what the city needs. And people love it.”