Shop and stroll at Calgary events
Events bring street festival feel to Calgary neighbourhoods, writes Elizabeth Chorney-Booth.
The concept of a night market — where people can get out and shop, eat, and be entertained in the cool summer nighttime air — is likely familiar to anyone who has spent much time in Southeast Asia.
In countries where the summer humidity makes the idea of an inner-city street festival more bearable after the sun’s gone down, night markets are commonplace. But Calgary has never been a city that likes to be left behind on trends, so it’s not surprising that the night market scene has quietly been growing in our own city, with two markets operating one weekend a month all summer long.
While some North Americans try to replicate what you’d find at a night market in Taipei or Hong Kong, the two Calgary markets offer a westernized version of the twilight shopping and strolling concept. Though Calgary Night Market founder Jeannette Medrano was inspired by a night market that she visited in the Philippines, she worked to make sure her local version is reflective of Calgary’s larger cultural make-up.
“We do food stalls like they do in the Philippines,” Medrano says. “We have a guy coming in to do taiyaki, which is a Japanese dessert that he’ll make in front of the crowds. We also have Hong Kong bubble waffles, a samosa maker, and six food trucks. I wanted to make sure it was multicultural and diverse.”
In addition to the food, the Calgary Night Market will showcase entertainment in the form of buskers, an open stage and karaoke per- formances, as well as vendors selling handmade and artisanal goods.
A jewelry artist, Medrano started hosting markets in 2011 because she needed a place to sell her wares, but after setting up shop at venues like Eau Claire Market and Central Memorial Park in the past, this year she’s landed the market in the parking lot of Southcentre Mall to bring the experience to a new and larger audience.
“You don’t see as many festivals in the deep south, so having the Night Market there will boost the event — people who live here are looking for something to do at night,” she says. “Plus, coming downtown you need to find parking and at Southcentre we have free parking.”
A big city requires more than one night market and Calgary’s other ongoing market in Inglewood has its own unique flavour and audience. Returning for its fourth year, the Inglewood Night Market has a distinctively more urban, artsy flair. To qualify to sell at the market, vendors either need to be making handmade artisanal items or selling vintage goods, which fits in with Inglewood’s overall spirit.
The market features eight food trucks each month (with new ones each month so visitors get a different taste every time), as well as two separate stages: one hosting local bands, the other a variety stage with choirs, breakdancers and other performers.
“The backdrop of our main stage is the rains going by, which creates the atmosphere of Inglewood as this warehouse chic retail environ- ment that is open and inclusive to everybody,” says Inglewood Night Market’s Jennifer Rempel. “The market reflects that as well, with its bohemian inner-city vibe.”
While each of Calgary’s night markets has its own style, they both operate under a common principle: somehow, as the sky goes darker and the lights over the vendor booths and food stalls light up, something bewitching happens and the atmosphere turns into something you just wouldn’t find at a daytime market or street fair.
“The magic is at night,” Rempel says. “It becomes a date night kind of thing where you maybe go out for dinner and then you come out and stroll on the streets. It’s entertaining to just walk around and people watch and listen to music.”
The Calgary Night Market will take place at Southcentre Mall from 5 to 11 p.m. on the weekends of July 7 and 8, July 28 and 29, and Aug. 25 and 26. The Inglewood Night Market will be held on July 14, Aug. 11, and Sept. 8, also from 5 to 11 p.m. just off of 9 Avenue and 10 Street S.E. Both markets are family friendly and admission is free.
It’s entertaining to just walk around and people watch and listen to music.