Asian Night Market coming to Crosstown
Coordinators of the Asian Market include (front row, left to right) Due Nguyen, Sondra Khammavong, Quynh Tran and Tieng Le (back row, left to right) Bang Nguyen, Thuy Phan and John Le at Crosstown Concourse on Tuesday, July 18, 2023. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)
A popular food event that takes place all over the world is being replicated in Memphis this weekend.
Memphis’ Asian Night Market will bring more than 50 vendors with food representing Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, China and Korea to Crosstown Concourse’s Central Atrium and the outdoor area in front of Crosstown Theater on Sunday, July 23, from 4-9 p.m.
The event was organized due to overwhelming community demand, and nearly 20 members of Memphis’ Vietnamese community have come together to put it on.
In this 2015 file photo, women grill giant prawns at the Asian Garden Mall night market in Westminster, Calif. Since about 2010, night markets have opened in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities. Several were started by young Asian Americans who wanted to recreate the frenetic, fast-paced spectacle of an Asian night market in their families' adopted hometowns. (AP Photo/Christine Armario)
Sondra Pham Khammavong, responsible for the Night Market’s social media, said there will be variety of available street foods, cooked on the spot.
And event coordinator Quynh Tran has this advice for attendees: “Bring cash. Expect to see authentic food, but not exotic food.”
Expected dishes and drinks include pho, banh mi, curry laksa, Korean dumplings, Indonesian fried rice, dim sum, Laotian sausage, Thai papaya salad, poké, Thai sticky rice, Thai tea, Vietnamese iced coffee and bubble tea.
Some vendors will take forms of digital payment but not all of them. Admission to the event is free.
Tran, who works as a scientist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, drew on her experience there and at University of Tennessee Health Science Center, to help put the Night Market together.
Khammavong also has experience with collaboration to draw from: She co-founded the Vietnamese Student Association at the University of Memphis in 2015 and served as president of the organization.
For the organizers, the Night Market also represents generations coming together.
“We do this as volunteers because we’re connecting with our roots,” Khammavong said, “different generations coming together and connecting.”
The Asian Night Market will include live performances from the VAC (Vietnamese American Community) Memphis Band and Japanese rock band Kazha; there will also be a Lion Dance, remarks from public officials, a raffle, bingo and children’s games.
If the event goes well, the organizers plan to bring the market back next year.
Topics
Night Market Crosstown ConcourseElle Perry
A native Memphian, Elle Perry has earned graduate degrees from the University of Memphis and Maryland Institute College of Art. She’s written for publications including the Memphis Business Journal, Memphis Flyer and High Ground News, and previously served as coordinator of The Teen Appeal.
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