Love Your Local Market event returns to Stockton High Street with a John Walker theme

A special outdoor market event bringing fun for all the family returns to Stockton High Street on Saturday 16 May. 

Stockton's Love Your Local Market event will take place between 10am and 2:30pm and is part of the national Love Your Local Market fortnight. Hundreds of markets across the country join forces to celebrate and encourage the community to shop local. 

This year, Stockton Market's event is themed around the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the invention of the friction match by John Walker, who ran a chemist shop on Stockton High Street.  

The Marvellous Match Trail, an interactive trail that spans the full length of the market, will start outside of 104 High Street which marks where John Walker sold the first friction matches in his Stockton shop, with the theme centered around finding all 13 giant matches across the market that will be fixed to traders' stalls.   

Once visitors have written down the letter painted on each numbered match, it will then form an anagram. After this is unscrambled, it will spell out a John Walker themed word with visitors then returning the completed trail card to the trail stall to be in the chance to win a prize and free goodie bags. 

Along with the trail and meeting characters such as John Walker himself, there will be free face painting and craft stall, and market vouchers can also be won for a wide range of market stalls. 

Hosted by the National Association of British Market Authorities (NABMA), the Love Your Local Market campaign is now celebrating its 15-year anniversary and has grown in popularity worldwide. 

Located in the heart of Stockton High Street, Stockton's award-winning market is one of the biggest outdoor markets in the country, with capacity for over 100 single stall units and around 50 traders attending every Wednesday and Saturday and a smaller market on a Friday. The Council also runs popular markets in Billingham on a Monday and Friday along with Thornaby Market on a Thursday. 

Councillor Lisa Evans, Leader of Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, said: "I am delighted to see the Love Your Local Market event remain so popular here in Stockton.  

"The markets across the Borough help to bring our town centres to life and boost the local economy, thanks to people-focused community activity and trading.  

"Stockton is on the cusp of one of the biggest regeneration programmes of a generation, but its award-winning market shows that independent retail is a huge asset to a town centre. With a rich history going back over 700 years, come along and continue the tradition!" 

Find out more about the Love Your Local Market event on the Enjoy Tees Valley website