Benna Co (left) images captured by Samee Lapham

After a record-breaking weekend in Melbourne, we are reliving the glorious weekend that took place on the 13-15 July at the beautiful Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton.

Our enormous thanks to the tens of thousands of you who walked through the heritage listed doors, ate and shopped your way through the market supporting all of our independent creative businesses from across the country.

We’ve welcomed a few new faces in 2018, so let’s get into our important list of thank yous…

• A huge thanks to our wonderful stallholders, both new and established! We deeply appreciate all of the talent, effort and hard yards it takes to prepare for a market of this scale. Your support does not go unnoticed and we appreciate all your warming words and lovely feedback!
• Special thanks to our long-term partners and fabulous friends at frankie magazine. Your ongoing support and dedication to our community continues to be recognised and appreciated. A big thanks to Beaconmaker for their continued support of our beautiful smartphone app!
• To the Royal Exhibition Building and Museum Spaces, thank you for hosting our event and welcoming us back in 2018. Special shout out to Isabella, Blake and the REB team who work to support us to make things bigger and better on the ground and behind the scenes.
• Big-ups to Amanda May Lee for filling our venue with her meticulously handcrafted paper natives; thank you to Georgia for programming and coordinating the perfect mix of bands to entertain the crowds, young and old! Cheers to Matt and his crew from Dead East bar Co, for keeping our visitors’ thirsts quenched with tasty teezers at the bars.
• Thanks go to Dann Event Hire for bringing the chill vibes with their complementary autumnal coloured couches and seating.
• Colossal credit and thanks to our inaugural Artist Program recipient, the inspiring Maggie and Laura from Magpie Goose, whose much-loved Tiwi Bird collaboration with Bede Tungatalum was seen across our campaign artwork! Extra thanks to Tiwi Design for printing the gorgeous Tiwi fabric seen throughout the venue on the Tiwi Islands.
• Samee Lapham! Your attention to detail, hard work and oh-so-beautiful photographs are taking us back to that fun weekend! Check out the album over on Facebook, and be sure to tag your label or friends!
• Last but never least, the entire Finders Keepers team, all permanent folk and casual crew, we quite simply couldn’t do it without each and every one of you.

And that’s a wrap! Thanks so much for supporting us on this amazing journey. We will be back in a few months to kick start our Spring Summer 2018 season, right back here in Melbourne. RSVP here for more information!

captured by Samee Lapham