A ton of nutmeg, cardamom and cinnamon-scented traditional German bakes will leave this hall by the end of the week.
Go! took a peek at the annual 11-day Christmas market at the St Andrew’s Lutheran Church.
It was faint-worthy! Tables in tightly organised lines of so much cake and biscuits, but also plenty of SA-style mince pies and fruit cakes. And fantastic Christmas decorations, presents, fermented foods, woodwork buses and graders.
And suddenly, out they came, genuine Christmas elves scurrying through the hall clutching trays with steaming stollen bread only to vanish down a side passage.
Go! ran after them and lo and behold, in the back, in one of many rooms stacked with Christmas stuff, there was the elf factory — a long table with four or five them moving the goodies into trays, wrapping them and adding bows, name tags and prices.
This, said organiser, Bettina du Buson, was how it went. Three ovens on one side of the hall pumped out the bakes, and the elves on the other packed and laid them out. And then the public came and bought ‘em and ate ‘em! Day in and day out.
These were church volunteers who worked alongside 15 outside stallholders and suppliers.
Du Buson said that since opening they had served around 200 people a day, and at this rate would not be slowing down because this was a known market offering traditional, value-for-money goodies.
It is so fast and furious that one tradition, use of farmers’ honey, was not matched by supply so they used syrup, she said.
Were these shoppers all of German ancestry? Most, she said, such as herself, a daughter of the Schuch family.
In the 1950s, her mother had worked in the church complex as a nursery school teacher, and Bettina and five siblings played in and around these buildings.
The market runs until Sunday. Parking is in the church complex at 50 Park Avenue.
Coffee is free, “because I spent so much money here,” one customer said.
