Jul 13

Jul 13 Night Market series will bring Asian culture and cuisine to Rochester's riverfront

News | 2021

This Saturday night, the riverfront will light up with Asian dishes, Boba tea and dance. Tiffany Alexandria is bringing Night Markets, a cultural staple she experienced in Taiwan, to Rochester this summer for the first time.

The Night Market will be held from 5 - 9 p.m. on three dates — July 17, Aug. 21 and Sept. 18 — at the Rochester Art Center and Mayo Civic Center Riverfront Plaza. Alexandria’s company CHOO-CHOO-ca-CHEW is hosting alongside Experience Rochester, Threshold Arts and the Art Center.

The market will feature more than 20 vendors all offering up something different, including Hmong Specialty Plants and Herbs, ThaiPop, Asian Food Store, Infuzn Foods, Wenonah Body Lab, and Persimmon Bakeshop.

The Art Center’s grand lobby will also host live entertainment. The July 17 market will have performances from Sothea Lam of reggae-rock group Push and Turn and KSKMM, a traditional Cambodian dance group.

The event is being funded, in part, through a $3,000 Start-Up Event Grant, a program providing funding for new activities downtown. Numerous other donors and sponsors have also stepped up to provide support.

“I just want to see people have fun, to try foods they maybe haven’t tried before, meet vendors they haven’t met before and listen to their stories,” Alexandria said of her hopes for the forthcoming series.

Alexandria described night markets in Taiwan as an everyday experience, where people gather to eat, shop, and socialize. She noted that the night markets there also provide a way to start small businesses without a large capital given that any vendor can show up with their product.

“You’ll find a lot of food but also people buying wholesale items, honestly anything you’ll ever need in your life you can probably find at the night market,” Alexandria explained.

Olmsted Country regulations disallow for the more casual and spontaneous Night Market experience, since planning and vendor permits are required; however, Alexandria says she is working to make this summer’s Rochester Night Market series as close to the real thing as possible.

“I tried to bring in aspects of it — I know it can’t be like a true Night Market experience in Asia,” said Alexandria. “But we are going to highlight BIPOC vendors and bring some of the same vibe and atmosphere to Rochester”