The bustling night markets that drew thousands of people to downtown Rochester last year are making a return — revamped with a focus on introducing new flavors while encouraging BIPOC business growth and sustainable success.

The Night Market will begin July 2 and be held every other Saturday from 4 to 10 p.m. in the 307 E Center Street parking lot, near the Rochester Civic Theatre. The September 10 market celebrating the Mid Autumn Festival at Mayo Civic Plaza will culminate the series.

Tiffany Alexandria, founder of the Night Market, restructured the series to have community-focused smaller events this summer. She wants the night markets to be incubators encouraging new business development, so the approximately 70 registered vendors will rotate sign-ups for the 22 available slots per market.

“With these smaller, more relaxed events, we can focus more energy on communicating with vendors, facilitating commercial kitchen use, and helping them navigate food regulations,” said Alexandria.

The final market will have double the vendor capacity and will be a celebration of the traditional East Asian holiday of the Mid Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon or Mooncake Festival.

Celebration of culture is vital for returning vendor Dao See of egg roll stand Minne Street Rolls.

See sells Lahu egg rolls, a recipe stemming from her native Thailand and her Lahu culture, and she asserts that the first taste of her egg rolls, carefully prepared with fresh cilantro and sweet onion, will immediately hook customers.

“Not many people know what Lahu is, they have never heard of it,” said See. “Exposing my cultural food to other people makes me happy.”

Drawing on last year’s outpouring of community support, Alexandria explained how the first five markets would be essential preparation for first-time vendors for the Mid Autumn Festival to accommodate the crowd size.

Referencing her first time selling egg rolls last summer, See said, “It was hectic and stressful. I didn’t know what to expect, but I’ve learned so many lessons from last year.”

While See is coming back invigorated with improved crowd expectations and increased staffing, Alexandria is also returning with several initiatives to support and ease the vendors’ experiences.

Alexandria partnered with the Channel One Community Kitchen for vendors to complimentarily use their space. State and county permit regulations strictly enforce the use of a commercial kitchen to sell specific goods, such as rice and noodles, a previously costly and inaccessible space for first-time vendors.

Using Channel One’s commercial space removes See’s financial stress of renting a kitchen and allows her to concentrate on cooking — a time-consuming process that takes between seven to 12 hours to make 1,000 egg rolls.

Minne Street Rolls / Courtesy Choochoo-ca-Chew

Jarred at the complexity of the overlapping food regulations, Alexandria is simplifying the permit process for vendors through the creation of a flow chart. The chart contains necessary information for vendors to reduce their extraneous time spent and removes barriers to selling.

Alexandria also enlisted Ming- jinn Tong, founder of consulting agency Cultivate, to help work with vendors who request assistance. Tong’s agency works to bridge cultures and foster better communication between people.

Tong is an experienced chef who is also opening an Asian cooking school, Hot Wok Academy, and will be at the September 10 market to perform cooking demonstrations.

Grateful for Alexandria’s high prioritization of vendor support, See shared, “That’s one thing I love about Rochester. We’re such a close-knit community, and local businesses just help each other.”

Haley Handelman is a freelance writer from Rochester who now studies at Northwestern University.