Queens Night Market’s season to end with Halloween finale
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The Queens Night Market will hold its Halloween-themed season finale on Saturday, Oct. 29. There will be costume contests, trick-or-treating and, as always, good eats. Photo via Queens Night Market/Instagram
By Jacob Kaye
Trick-or-treat, smell my feet and give me something good to eat at the Queens Night Market this weekend.
The famed market in Flushing Meadows Corona Park is closing out its eighth season with its annual Halloween celebration on Saturday, Oct. 29.
There will be trick-or-treating, two costume contests – one for adults and another for kids – and all the regular arts and food vendors.
The kids’ costume contest will kick off at 8:30 p.m., and will be followed by the adults’ contest beginning at 9:15 p.m.
Getting creative may pay off. Prizes for winners of the contest include a signed Jacob deGrom baseball donated by the New York Mets, VIP suite concert tickets from Forest Hills Stadium, gift certificates to toy store Kidding Around, a free lunch at Elmhurst’s Fogo de Chão, squash lessons from Maspeth Squash, a spice gift set from Burlap and Barrel, tickets to the Winter Lantern Festival at the Queens County farm and concert tickets for a show at the Kupferberg Center for the Arts.
Saturday’s event will be the seventh time the festival has hosted the spooky contest – around 100 contestants have competed in recent years, according to John Wang, the founder of the Queens Night Market.
The Halloween-themed market will also feature a number of live performances, including Filipino acoustic pop group The Werners, Japanese Yosakoi dance troupe 10tecomai and DJ Katie Honan, a reporter with THE CITY who described the vibe of her set in an exclusive statement shared with the Eagle.
“The vibes will be celebratory, since we should all be happy to be alive and here in Queens at the same time,” Honan said. “I'll be doling out everyone's favorite dance songs AND lots of candy – so come hungry!”
The night market, which is lauded both for its wide selection of foods from around the globe and its $5 to $6 price cap, logged more vendors and visitors in 2022 than any year prior, according to Wang.
“Despite crazy weather, rampant inflationary pressures, and even some political headwinds, it was our busiest year to date,” Wang said in a statement. “The $5/$6 price cap we impose on food and vendors’ ever-shrinking margins mean volume is absolutely critical.”
“Luckily, vendor sales were higher than ever, which meant we were able to pursue our mission to be NYC’s most affordable, diverse, and welcoming space for another year,” he added.
For more on Saturday’s market head to queensnightmarket.com.
