The organizers of a new night market in Port Moody are hoping the event will bring a festive vibe to summer Friday evenings in the city’s downtown.
Amelia Norrie and Steph Wagner, who run the online clothing retailer Violet + Ruby, have teamed up with fellow clothiers Kora Pridy and Karolina Jasinski to curate local vendors, artisans and food trucks that will offer their wares at the Market at Brewer’s Row. It will be held in the parking lot at the PoMo Station Museum beginning this Friday from 6 to 10 p.m. and run on Friday nights through Aug. 11 (except June 30, to make way for Golden Spike Days).
Wagner says Port Moody is ready for a night market.
“There’s just such a great vibe here,” she said.
And placing the market at the museum puts it perfectly between the craft breweries along Murray Street and Rocky Point Park, which are already hubs of activity on warm summer evenings.
“This has amazing potential,” said Norrie, who’s hoping visitors will make the market part of a stroll that takes in some of the best the city has to offer.
That means they’ll have to be on their “A” game, with a varying lineup of vendors and food trucks to keep the market fresh every week, said Wagner. “There’s always going to be something new.”
A long table beneath strings of twinkle lights will be the centrepiece of the market, where visitors can sit down and eat their orders from the food trucks, enjoy the live music provided by local entertainers or just hang out.
Wagner said the night market shopping experience beats battling crowds at the mall.
“It’s more of a destination experience,” she said. “People want something different.”
For the first market, the organizers have lined up vendors in addition to their own clothing boutiques; among them are Sparrow Tees, Aroma Lux Designs, Little Crow Collective and Sweetlegs with Pippin. Big Red’s Poutine is the featured food truck this week. A complete list, as well as updates as new vendors are added, is available on the website www.marketatbrewersrow.com.
The market’s proximity to the Moody Centre SkyTrain station and its connecting buses also makes it easy for visitors to haul their shopping finds home in time to put the kids to bed at a decent hour, said Norrie.
“Then they don’t have to worry about parking,” she said.
