The CHN was out and about in the local area as you do on a recent overcast day at the Camden Showground.
The occasion was the The Argyle Affair Christmas Market for 2017. The market attracts visitors far and wide. One pair who spoke to this blogger came from the New South Wales South Coast and were particularly taken with the local music talent.
The grand old showground dusted off its cobwebs and hosted this great community event for all and sundry.
The ground came alive with the sound of fresh talent in the music tent, while around 50 pop-up stallholders were scattered on the grass while others took up residence in the AH&I Hall.
The Argyle Affair organisers Peta Borg and Brooke Murphy excelled themselves yet again from their last effort in June which attracted a large crowd of enthusiastic patrons.
Brooke Murphy said that her aim was to
‘showcase local talent and giving Mums a platform to show their wares and creations’.
The Argyle Affair sponsors a local charity and this year it was ‘Turning Point’ who are a Camden based-community welfare centre in John Street. Turning Point state on their website:
‘We aim to provide a safe and confidential environment where we can offer assistance, providing welfare services such as emergency food relief, advocacy, document assistance, phone access, and computer availability with free Wi-Fi’.
Market goers were asked for a gold coin admission or hand in an item of food that went to Turning Point.
The Argyle Affair organisers are continuing a strong community tradition of local festivals going back well over a century where local folk came together to support worthy causes of one sort or another.
Camden Community festivals have come in a range of sizes, types and causes from small street stalls, to large events like the Camden Show. Other examples have been the week long celebrations for the 1960s Festival of the Golden Fleece and the annual Rose Festival.
Festivals are an important part of all communities in the city and bush. Festivals are especially important for small rural communities and they are run with a lot of team spirit. Festivals have even become of an interest to university types.
In this centenary period of the First World War it is timely to remember the effort put in by the organisers of these community festivals to fund the war at home. Local women from the Red Cross branches across the area fitted this bill. These women were the subject of a display at the Camden Museum. Their story has been told in book called the Ministering Angels
The grandest local festival is the annual Camden Show which has been going for 131 years. It is a celebration of the town’s rural heritage and over 30,000 people cannot be wrong. The annual rural festival even has Miss Camden Showgirl, one of the few still remaining.
Fittingly The Argyle Affair and its display of traditional crafts by local women carries on the rural traditions of the Camden Show festivals and a celebration of local arts and crafts.
Meanwhile back at The Argyle Affair the weather was kind for a while and then promptly at 2.30pm on the dot the heavens opened up as a rain front moved overhead.
Liked drowned rats outside stallholders packed up while the assembled rushed for the AH&I Hall out of the wet where there were a host of other stalls.
But Camden festival goers are a hardy lot and the show went on.
The Christmas Argyle Affair organisers sponsored a line up of fresh music talent from the local area.
The running sheet of musos was as follows:
9:50 – 10:30 Stephanie Sullivan
10:40 – 11:20 The Honey Sippers
11:30 – 12:10 Isaac Lewis
12:20 – 1:00 Alicia Moses
1:10 – 1:50 Grace & Alley
2:00 – 2:50 The Bells
3:00 – 3:40 Lucy Gallant
3:50 – 4:20 Spencer Jones
4:30 – 5:10 Michelle James
5:20 – 6:00 Mollie Collins
6:00 – 8:00 Spencer Jones ft. Bryan Browne
Be adventurous and have a listen to some of this talent using these links. You will surprise your ears.
Camden had yet again excelled itself and has been the location of a successful festival of music, food and crafts.
In 2018 treat yourself and your friends to a great and memorable experience just like the folk did at the 2017 Argyle Affair Christmas market.
For the complete listing of 2018 events, and lots of other great stuff, see the In Macarthur lifestyle magazine or the Macarthur tourism website with lots of helpful bits and pieces.
Camden History Notes 
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