To usher in the summer and herald the festive season the Baxter Theatre Centre in association with Blue Bird Garage in Muizenberg, is launching a Saturday Food and Goods market called Blue Bird Baxter, starting on 5 November from 12 noon to 6 pm.

Following its success in Muizenberg, where the market runs from 4 to 10pm, the concept has now been brought to the Baxter by owner Dylan Speer. Market-lovers, University of Cape Town staff and students, Baxter patrons and local and surrounding communities will be in for a treat when the market opens for the festive season. Visitors can enjoy an array of wares, entertainment and tasty delicacies while browsing through the variety of stalls with wonderful hand-made and vintage goods on sale.

This new venture at the Baxter also celebrates the first anniversary for Speer, who opened his Blue Bird Garage on Guy Fawkes Day last year. “We are very excited and proud to be in partnership with the Baxter Theatre Centre and to be associated with one of Cape Town’s cultural icons,” says Speer. “We hope to duplicate the success which the Blue Bird Garage has achieved in Muizenberg over the past year and in particular to service Rondebosch and the surrounding areas and bring the local community closer. What better venue than the Baxter’s garden which I think is the perfect setting for this?”

The Baxter garden will be transformed into a bustling rendezvous where exhibitors will display and sell vintage-styled clothing and jewellery designs in a convivial and fun atmosphere. These local designers include The Pendant Warehouse, Akimbo, Aeroplane Jane, Yesterday and Tomorrow, Aphrodite, Natasha Woods, love joy jewellery and Like Clock Work. The Little Hattery will launch a new range of amazing hats, and Noon-Gun T-shirts will kick-start their latest range of T-shirts.

The forum restaurant’s Play Bar, situated on the upper level of the Baxter’s main foyer, will be open to offer fresh and healthy meals and baked indulgences. Affordable grab-&-go meals such as gourmet paninis and wraps and light meals such as burgers, prego rolls, fresh salads and chicken livers in a bun will also be on sale. In addition the restaurant will have chairs and tables outside the building at the top end of the garden where visitors can enjoy the activity over a coffee or cappuccino, a cup of tea and other refreshments.

There will be a nursery selling some garden accessories and a variety of plants, while live music by students from the UCT College of Music will add to the ambience.

Friends of the late Roz van der Vyver, who was a former Baxter employee and the Western Cape representative of the Theatre Benevolent Fund, will sell books from her collection and other second-hand books. All proceeds will go directly to the Fund.

“In December 1984 and early in 1985 the Baxter introduced its own Village Market in the car park which was a huge success,” explains Jeremy Blackburn, Financial Manager at the Baxter. “With this eclectic open-air market we hope to extend our activities and events while creating exciting and new options with an artistic and theatrical flair for our patrons and the general public.”

“It gives further meaning to our mission of being a vibrant cultural hub pulsating with the finest in South African theatre and events. We strive to live by our philosophy of creating a dynamic forum for the celebration of life – the essence of live theatre, music and dance. The market is an ideal addition to this. We would love to see families, students, friends and locals enjoy the space which we believe is great for the area this time of the year.”

For further enquiries and to become a stall-holder, please contact Dylan Speer on 082 493 9055 or email him at bluebirdgarage@gmail.com.