PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Northern Liberties kicks off Memorial Day weekend early this week, with the return of its Night Market on Thursday. It’s the latest in a line of outdoor public events to suggest that Philadelphia’s street festivals are finally back.
Ann Lastuvka, executive producer of 2nd St. Festival (returning Aug. 7) and now also the Northern Liberties Night Market series, says neighborhood merchants had wanted to create some year-round programming around food.
“And so when The Food Trust had to close its night market program, the bells went off,” Lastuvka said. “It was kismet, if you will.”
She explains, the Northern Liberties Business Improvement District was planning on launching a night market series in 2020 — “but, you know, life had other plans.”
Instead, they launched their inaugural night market in September 2021. “So this is our second one,” she explains. “But moving forward, it will be biannual — twice a year — once in May, once in September.”
Lastuvka says vendor participation has increased since last year.
“We have over 20 food trucks attending. We've got cocktails, beer and wine provided by neighborhood restaurants. We've got multiple DJs to keep the party going,” she said. And she expects bigger crowds as well.
“Even with the spike in COVID that we're experiencing lately, there's just a lot of pent up demand to get back out.”
She says organizing this year’s Night Market has gone much more smoothly than it did last year.
“If anything, it's just more we're getting our sea legs back under us.”
The festival takes place Thursday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., on 2nd Street between Poplar Street and Fairmount Avenue.