A new market celebrating crystals, alternative art and the region’s self-described “misfits” will fill the Tuncurry Memorial Hall over the October long weekend, giving local spiritual and alternative businesses a rare chance to sell and connect under one roof.
The inaugural Misfits Market will run from 9 am to 4 pm on Saturday, 3 October and Sunday, 4 October, with $2 entry.
The event is the brainchild of Tayla Mullen, owner of Forster Tuncurry crystal and spiritual business Lumi Ra, who said she started the market after spotting a clear gap in the local scene.
“I noticed there was a huge gap in the market for it,” Ms Mullen said. “At the moment we don’t have too many spiritual shops or crystal shops or really any alternative shops in the area.”
Ms Mullen said the alternative community on the Mid North Coast had few places to shop, express themselves or connect with like-minded people, and the market was designed to change that, with a strong focus on oddities and curiosities not usually found outside major cities.
“You never see that in this area,” she said. “Normally you have to travel to Newcastle or Sydney to see those products in real life.”
The market’s name was chosen deliberately, Ms Mullen said.
“I wanted to definitely relate with people that feel like outsiders,” she said. “Misfits have kind of always been known as outsiders, but it’s kind of like the cool outsiders, the misfits of society, which I really liked.”
Ms Mullen’s own business, Lumi Ra, grew out of a difficult period in her life two years ago.
“I was going through a deep depression,” she said. “I’d just moved back to Forster Tuncurry after living on the Gold Coast for three years, and I’d lost my spark and a bit of myself.”
She said a piece of amethyst beside her bed changed that.
“One morning when I woke up, I looked at it, and it just sparked me up that day,” Ms Mullen said. “I was like, what a fascinating thing to come from this planet Earth.”
That moment reignited an interest in crystals she first had as a teenager, before she left to travel around Australia. It also shaped the philosophy behind Lumi Ra.
“My slogan is ‘illuminate your soul’, because I really want to be able to give that spark and light back to others,” she said. “I found my soul being activated from crystals again, and it wasn’t even from the healing properties; it was just pure fascination about how they come from our planet Earth.”
Stallholders at the Misfits Market will include crystal sellers, handmade artists and healers offering oracle card readings, alongside silversmiths and woodworkers.
“I have a big respect for the handmade artists out there,” Ms Mullen said. “We really want them to be able to be seen with their artworks and creations.”
Ms Mullen said she had deliberately prioritised stallholders from the Mid North Coast, after noticing an earlier crystal event in the region had mostly attracted sellers from Newcastle and Sydney. A handful of stallholders from those cities will still take part, alongside at least four local businesses that have launched specifically to be part of the market, including a stallholder specialising in oddities and bugs and a new photography business.
Community response so far has been strong, Ms Mullen said, with the market’s Facebook page growing quickly and local businesses offering to display flyers in their windows. She said the October long weekend timing was chosen to help draw a bigger crowd.
Visitors are encouraged to dress up for a fantasy theme, with prizes for the best costumes. The $2 entry also includes free workshops across the weekend, including healing workshops, art therapy, a women’s circle and live mediumship talks, with times to be posted on the event’s Facebook page closer to the date.
Lumi Ra does not have a permanent shopfront, with Ms Mullen selling through markets and online, alongside occasional holiday pop-ups. She said stallholder applications for the Misfits Market were still open, with only a few spots left.
If the first Misfits Market is a success, Ms Mullen hopes to make it a regular fixture.
“I would love to hold it more often,” she said. “I know it would definitely stay in this Tuncurry area, but I would even love to branch out further along the Mid North Coast, as far as Port Macquarie.”
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