FESTIVE markets held in Okehampton in the run up to Christmas brought 10,000 people into the town, the organisers have reported, writes Sarah Pitt.

Rebecca Green, from new charity One Okehampton, told Okehampton Town Council last week that the four markets — including the free Elf Outpost which attracted 400 youngsters — was primarily about making people feel included in their community.

‘There is a huge amount that people are getting from this which is not necessarily about how much money it makes,’ she said. ‘We want people to feel part of the town they live in, not just that it is a place where they happen to live.’

They have been held in the town centre over the past four Sundays, with the final one held on December 10.

‘The purpose of these markets wasn’t to try to recreate something that had been there before but to create something new,’ Rebecca said. ‘We weren’t sure when we started it how it was going to go.’

The markets, held in and around the Red Lion Yard and the Charter Hall, offered free stalls to charities and community groups and scope for entertainers and arts groups from the area to perform.

The Elf Outpost attracted families and children from as far afield as Holsworthy, Bude, Bideford, Exeter, Exmouth, Torquay, Plymouth and Tavistock — as well as Okehampton.

More than 400 children participated over the four weeks, meeting the elves in a specially decorated workshop above The Dovecote in Red Lion Yard, writing them a letter and receiving a small present. All the children who wrote to the elves will receive a letter in time for Christmas.

Rebecca said that many individuals and businesses in the town has supported the project with money, time and materials, not least those who donned elf costumes to meet children in the Elf Outpost.

She asked the town council for any sort of support they could offer to help the markets continue as a long-term part of the town.

‘My job this evening is to make you aware of who we are and make you aware that we are going to be running more markets,’ she said. ‘We are not necessarily asking for more money, but if anyone has any spare time or connections they might be able to offer us, that would be fantastic.’

She said she was not going to ‘particularly ask’ for external funding ‘because we are a grassroots community group’. ‘The second we become reliant on an external source of funding, the entire project becomes unviable,’ she said.

One Okehampton first trialled the markets last summer, in response to a request for more to attract people into town on Sunday, coinciding with the summer Sunday Rover rail service, sponsored by Devon County Council, from Exeter to Okehampton. ‘We decided to put something on to attract people into the town,’ said Rebecca.

Cllr Julie Yelland said: ‘I would like to commend the team for all they have done, and I myself would welcome more of this kind of markets in the town.’

Cllr Sally Parkins also supported the markets, saying: ‘Community support has the effect of reducing crime’.