The Nelson Market is a popular place for locals and visitors.

When Nita Knight had the idea to create a market in Nelson in 1978, she had visions of "gazebos, flags and colour".

"A vibrant place where people could come."

Forty years on they are still coming, searching for gifts, bargains, stocking up on fruit and veges, sweet and savoury treats or just soaking up the atmosphere which has fulfilled Knight's vibrant vision.

Every Saturday morning hundreds of stall holders transform the central city Montgomery Square car park into a retail tent city where you can buy everything from jewellery and pickles to wood carvings and planes made out of beer cans.

Knight, who ran an employment agency in Auckland, drew inspiration from that city's pioneering Cook St market, and thought Nelson's climate made it a perfect fit for its own market.

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Others were not so sure. When she set up at the original Millers Acre car park on Halifax Street the council gave her one month to "prove this thing was going to work".

Without revealing her trade secrets, she did "all sorts of things" to get stall holders along, and ended up with more than 60 for its debut.

Knight demonstrated to the council she could get her vision off the ground but less than two years later she had to move to a new site after objections from neighbour, TAB, for taking up parks.

There was a silver lining.

The council invited Knight to choose any car park in town for her new site, "because I'd become a bit established where I was".

"So I said Montgomery Square because I felt it was the most central and also probably the most protected from the wind and all of that."

From the beginning, she had "great aspirations" for the market.

"I didn't think it wouldn't work, I didn't think that for a minute. I think if you think like that, you're done before you begin."

Not everyone backed her vision.

Knight remembered a gentleman who said, "I don't think this sort of thing is going to take off".

"In the end I had to bring it to his attention that he was down there every Saturday."

Decades on, there are no such doubts. Knight's dedication to what has become a Nelson institution saw her make the New Year Honours list 2018, becoming a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business and the community.

MARTIN DE RUYTER Nita Knight, Cathy Brosnahan and Alan Stanton at Nelson Market's first venue in 1979, Miller's Acre car park. It was much more grass roots in the early days.

In the early days of the market, stall holders were only permitted to sell second hand items, produce and hand crafts.

"We weren't allowed to sell food in those days."

These days, the market is churning out a high calibre of food suppliers.

It has been a launch pad for many successful local businesses including Anathoth Jam, Proper Crisps, Hogarth's Chocolates, Pete's Lemonade and Pic's Peanut Butter.

From its market beginnings Pic's is now a growing national and international brand; Hogarth's boutique chocolate has won international awards for its products and Proper Crisps had the big corporate business, The Griffins Food Company, invest in them last year.

It's testament to how far a market stall can take you.

Keeping its position as the one and only market in Nelson hasn't been without its challenges.

Knight said she used to struggle with keeping the stall holders in line but there were times it was called for.

Stall holders weren't allotted sites in the beginning.

Braden Fastier Bruce 'Pic' Picot, began selling Pic's Peanut Butter at the Nelson Market along with a number of successful businesses who now supply their products internationally.

"Initially there wasn't enough people."

"The market started really early in the morning and then we got earlier and earlier and earlier."

Vendors started setting up at 2 o'clock in the morning to get their place, which was soon followed up by customers turning up at the crack of dawn.

Many stall holders were sleeping in their vans on Friday night to secure their spot.

"It was getting ridiculous. I had to stop everything and structure things."

Former stall holder for 20 years, Heather Tonk, could vouch for the early start.

VIRGINIA WOOLF Found of the Nelson Market, Nita Knight, made the 2018 New Years Honour list, becoming a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business and the community.

"People were lining up at 2am ... all lining up to get the same spot. Getting the one where customers knew where we were."

Tonk started out selling plants before buying a food cart to sell chips and hot dogs.

She remembered one man who would travel from Wellington every month.

"He came specifically to get a hot dog. He said they were the best hot dogs in New Zealand."

And it wasn't just the hot dog lover dropping in from the capital.

"A lot of customers came down from Wellington ... to come down to the Nelson Market. They made it part of their weekend."

Tonk said eventually Nelson retailers capitalised on the crowds that were in town for the market.

"Because the market was so busy, retailers got together and asked, 'Why aren't we open on Saturday morning if the market brings in so many people?'

"It actually created Saturday morning shopping."

She believed Nelson was one of the first places in the country to have retailers open their doors on a Saturday.

The market has had its share of characters, famous visitors and stall regulars.

Martin de Ruyter Wood carver and turner, Kemp Lenihan is a market veteran who makes his living selling his crafts from his stall every Saturday.

Knight recalled one young man in the "old days" who set up a stall "with a road cone on his head" and a piece of paper stating 'Free advice'.

"He was sitting there and it just looked so ludicrous."

Wood turner and carver Kemp Lenihan from Glenwood Craft is a market veteran.

He's seen stall holders come and go since its inception at Millers Acre.

Like many of the market vendors, his weekly stall set up at 6am and packed up at 1pm is his livelihood.

"That market is the reason many many people have made a living out of art."

And the market reaches customers from all over the world without a mouse or keyboard being touched.

"Through the summer, I would say 70 per cent of my sales would be to the US and UK. It's iconic and a huge go-to place for tourists.

"It's giving me access to a worldwide base of people. People can come to that market and pick something up and look at it – you can't do that on the internet."

Lenihan hasn't just built wooden crafts through his years at the market, he's built memories.

"I think my fondest memories have been the connections with wonderful artists over the time that have come and gone – absolutely brilliant people."

He remembered a Dutch stall holder who was "always joking".

"He was so funny and full of life, then he got cancer. He stayed there almost to the end."

On the day of his funeral, he was driven through the markets in his coffin in the back of a Lada before the service.

"We had a bit of a wake for him.

"They're special moments. You just meet some absolute characters – he was definitely one really lovable guy."

One woman who was a prominent personality in the aisles was Nelson's Pearly Queen, Shirley Miles.

Martin de Ruyter Pearly Queen Shirley Miles was a recognisable character at the Nelson Market, collecting for the Nelson Hospice since 2002 until she died in 2018.

She was at the market most weekends from Christmas 2002 until she passed away from non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in March.

Miles shook a bucket for the Nelson Tasman Hospice, raising more than $160,000 over the years.

Knight said the market was the only one in New Zealand that had a genuine Pearly Queen.

"Your ancestors had to have lived in London for at leat 100 years.

"She was just such an amazing woman. She collected all that money ... she's done that for this community, not for remuneration for herself but she's done that for us."

Miles was recognised by a hat and a pearly suit that weighed three kilograms and represented her London heritage.

Other visitors with London heritage who sparked a lot of interest in 2015 were Prince Charles and Camilla.

Knife maker Ross Johnston who had a stall at the market for 34 years remembered the royal stopover.

He said the town "ripped in" and pushed the couple out of the market.

"The people from outside the market just rushed in. They were pushing at him and shoving him..

"I think the police just said 'Out of here, this feels too dangerous'."

Johnston said he saw a lot of famous faces at the market including politicians and even TV personality Judith Sheindlin, better known as Judge Judy.

But amongst the celebrities and well-known figures who stroll around the stalls, there's the locals who frequent the market.

Anne Rush is a community market-goer who visits almost every Saturday.

MARION VAN DIJK The Nelson Market was the catalyst for retailers opening their doors on a Saturday morning once they saw how many shoppers were in town.

She joins her sisters there and gets her produce for the week.

"It's also a social experience, you can meet people down there, friends, take your visitors. It's a really special experience in Nelson and everyone you take, they really do appreciate it. Even international visitors, they seem to think it stacks up, as good as anywhere really."

She said the market reflected what Nelson had to offer.

"We do live in a food bowl, that's definitely demonstrated. We have lots of artisans and crafts people, and lots of personalities."

Amongst the personalities sits, Knight, the market matriarch.

Many locals can't praise Knight enough for her tireless work and vibrant energy she puts in to the weekly event.

And if the flow of people through her market office on a Saturday is anything to go by, she's one very popular woman.

But there's many hands making light work, including staff member, Lex Read who does "anything that needs doing", Knight's sister Gail Michaels, who helps with administration and her son Jason Knight who assists with the Saturday market and heads Monty's Sunday Market.

It's no mean feat organising hundreds of stalls and it's no easy task to be granted a site.

"It's quite a thing to be part of the Nelson Market because there's a standard you have to meet."

The stalls and their wares were about "quality not quantity", Knight said.

"The market is going so well and the people are happy. It's become a family affair, in terms of my own family and market family.

"It kind of reaches out into the community spirit."