Truro Farmers Market will be celebrating one of the most important days in the Cornish calendar with a bumper market and the return of its popular pasty making competition. The event will be held on Saturday 4th March – the day before St Piran’s Day – as the National Day of Cornwall falls on a Sunday this year.
The St Piran’s Market will run from 9.00am – 4.00pm on Lemon Quay; the event will be a larger version of the regular Saturday market, with a bumper array of stalls plus extra street food and live music.
Food, drink, art, and craft stallholders will be joined by vintage tractors, a brass band and street entertainers, for a family-friendly day out with a festival feel. The market is part of city-wide celebrations taking place in Truro over the weekend, which include the annual St Piran’s Parade.
Market Coordinator Stewart Girvan said: “The St Piran’s Market is a major event in our calendar, and a great opportunity for us to showcase the amazing creativity, entrepreneurialism and collaborative spirit Cornwall is known for.”
As well as a vibrant and colourful collection of stalls and entertainment, the event sees the return of Truro Farmers Market’s Pasty Making Competition, which was a resounding success last year. The competition is open to all and will be judged by members of the Buscombe family from The Cornish Mill & Bakehouse, where four generations work together to produce a wide range of bread, cakes, biscuits and delicious pasties.
There will be two categories, ‘Cornwall’ and ‘Rest of The World’, with competitors invited to show their excellence in traditional Cornish pasty-making or take an experimental approach by introducing flavours and ingredients from anywhere in the world.
Chaz Buscombe said: “Across both categories we’ll be looking for good crimping skills, great quality ingredients and excellent taste as the key features of a fantastic pasty. For the ‘rest of the world’ category I’m looking forward to tasting some interesting modern versions with a global flavour!”
Graham Bradshaw, Chairman of Truro Farmers Market, explained that the competition was the perfect way to honour St Piran’s Day as the National Day of Cornwall, while celebrating diversity and Cornwall’s global outlook. He said: “Here at market, we are proud to have many producers with international roots and influences, who will be getting involved and showing what you can do with a ‘fusion’ approach to pasty making! We’d love to invite anyone with a fresh take on the humble pasty to come and show us what they’ve come up with, as well as those that have mastered the traditional version.”
Competitors are asked to bring their ready-to-eat pasty (hot or cold) to the market on Lemon Quay between 10.00am and midday on 4th March, where they’ll find a dedicated judging area; the winner will be announced later that day, and there are prizes for each category.
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