Page 35 - Fiji Traveller 7

By Samantha Magick
Photos: Vijeshwar Datt

Visit downtown Suva on the third Sunday of every month and you will find
three vibrant streets full of local products, food and music. The ROC Market
is an institution in the capital, growing from nine tents in Foster Street when it
started almost two decades ago to 32 tents forming a horseshoe in the streets
adjacent to government buildings.
“It’s such a beautiful space, and I’m proud of it on so many levels,” says
Ellana Kalounisiga who manages the market through her company Knox
Entertainment.
Kalounisiga first took on management of the market, which is owned by the
proprietors of the ROC Café, seven years ago, although she thinks it has been
running in some form for about 18 years.
She says while the number of vendors has grown, they are still very selective
about who is allowed to join the market.
“Our biggest aim is to keep things handmade or locally made, but it's
impossible because there's not enough product out there to do that. So, we do
have allocations of stores for people selling other things. But we try really hard
to stick with the local and new products to the Fijian market as well.”
Market stalwarts include Michelle Bower’s Pawpaw Patch. Bower sells lovely
flower earrings and sulus, bags and cards featuring prints from her mother’s
paintings. Kavara Wood Art, which makes beautiful wood and resin boards,
Niu Grillz which now has a permanent restaurant at the Suva Golf Club and
Waitika Honey with its range of honey and honey products, also made their
name through the market, Kalounisiga says.
Local visual artists have also run stalls selling their artwork and other goods
at the market. “Irami Buli, Warwick Marlow, Lambert Ho; well-established artists
in Fiji use the market at their leisure,” Kalounisiga says.
“We can have, sometimes, seven or eight of Fiji’s best, most talented artists
sell at the market, which is fantastic.”
Aroma Kitchen’s Felichya Kayes, with her wide range of chutneys, dips and
pickles is a market stalwart, and always has a new recipe to taste.
At a recent market, she talked about how valuable the platform is for showcasing
her products, saying the general manager of a big Suva supermarket had just
been by the stall, tasted a few chutneys and said he was interested in stocking
them.
“Since coming to the ROC Market, my business and my personality has
grown more,” Kayes says.
“My biggest dream was to send my products to overseas markets but when
the pandemic happened, my dreams stopped. Now I don’t worry about that
because customers from all over the world are coming and buying my products
and taking them back home.”

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