MAKING A DIFFERENCE with Cam Calkoen

LET'S GO TO THE TAKAPUNA MARKETS?

To call himself a "North Shorian" is one of Cam Calkoen's proudest traits for it is in this environment that he is inspired to make a difference and be the best that he can be. From athletics, through to community service and motivational speaking Cam has locally, nationally and internationally represented our region with pride and built networks into the many subcultures of our North Shore community. This is the first of Cam's regular columns for Channel.

Let’s go to the Takapuna Markets? It is this question that friends have been proposing to me for some time now.

While I have in-part thought this to be one of the cornerstone activities – along with watching a Harbour rugby game at North Harbour Stadium, walking along Black Rock and indulging in the Devonport Food & Wine festival – that one must experience to truly claim North Shore citizenship, my more conservative part equally wondered if attending such an event would see me morphing into a new-age hippy. Unless the morphing process has occurred unbeknown to me, I found that leaving my unjustifiable prejudgments at home resulted in one of my more memorable Sundays on the Shore. I left Takapuna Markets asking myself, what’s taken me so long to attend?

Be it at a slightly grassroots level the Takapuna Market confronted me with a snapshot of the excellence that the North Shore radiates. From the ambitious salesman through to engaged youth fundraising to support a local charity and committed art students painting on the faces of children whom enjoy freshly baked doughnuts, this market echoes the spirit of community, education and business leaders who strive to keep the Shore as one of New Zealand's most vibrant cities. With average of 215 stalls each week there are plenty of the token favourites for market troopers (vegetable stalls, T-shirt stalls and the youth friendly under $20 sunglasses stall) that make this urban jungle of modern civilization a celebration of community cohesion and entrepreneurship.

The admirable minds that can transform an empty space into a money-making car-park and then (for one morning a week) into a community market are broadly represented and fostered within the Takapuna Markets.

Each stall owner represented a different subculture of the North Shore and my experience there became the perfect place to introduce this column. It is in this space that I aim to withdraw fresh glimpses of activity and capture the diverse spirits in which North Shore excellence extends.

Great to have a monthly magazine for the North Shore. Hope you have enjoyed this first issue.