Queens Night Market set to return next month
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The Queens Night Market is officially reopening on its home turf next month. Photo by Storm Garner courtesy of Queens Night Market
By Rachel Vick
After several false starts, the Queens Night Market has officially scheduled a return to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park for the 2021 season with international vendors and live performances, founder John Wang announced Friday.
This year’s weekly pop-ups will begin on June 19 and look slightly different than in years past. To ease the struggling vendors and accommodate capacity restrictions, the event will be ticketed, with part of the proceeds going towards the elimination of the vendor fee.
“While we’re very mindful of the gravity and tragedy of what we’re coming out of as a city, state, and nation, we hope the Queens Night Market can represent a celebratory beacon of solidarity and really just a huge, collective sigh of relief,” Wang said.
The market will be open from 4 p.m until midnight and tickets will be sold online for $5 per person. Any remaining spots will be sold at the gate for $8. Children under 12 can attend for free.
Wang has committed to donating at least 20 percent of net ticket proceeds to causes promoting racial equity and COVID-19 recovery. Once capacity restrictions are lifted, the open air event will once again be free and open to all.
“We’re unbelievably excited to welcome everyone back and hope our visitors don’t mind underwriting vendor fees until attendance restrictions are lifted,” he added. “We just don’t want to hang our vendors out to dry financially after the tough year they’ve had.”
The trademark low prices will remain.
Wang estimated that nearly 75 percent of vendors in the market’s network permanently closed due to the pandemic and said that despite hundreds of applications, securing vendors remains a challenge.
Though a number of vendors have yet to be confirmed and might rotate throughout the season, Wang is confident that the below vendors will be on site to meet a number of multinational cravings.
Nansense: Afghan mantu and chapli kababs
Moon Man: Indonesian kue pancong
Joey Bats Cafe: Portuguese pastéis de nata
Kanin NYC: Filipino lugaw
Twister Cake: Romanian chimney cakes
Sholay: Indian tandoori kebabs
Burmese Bites: Burmese palatas
Phnom Penh Project: Cambodian fish amok
Arepalicious: Colombian arepas
Bstro: Taiwanese popcorn chicken
Lion City Coffee: Singaporean chai tow kueh and mee pok
Joon: Persian crispy rice
Malaysian Project: Malaysian “ramly” burgers
Sea Monster: Malaysian skate wings
Hong Kong Street Food: Hong Kongese soy sauce noodles and rice noodle rolls
Ay Cachapa: Venezuelan cachapas
Cocotaso: Puerto Rican papas rellenos
Sambuxa NYC: Sudanese sambuxas and aswad
Agi's Kitchen: Hungarian goulash and körözött
