The Queens International Night Market, which debuted in April 2015 in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, announces its plans for the 2016 season.

The Night Market will return to the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows on Saturday evenings, starting April 23rd. The event is now accepting vendor applications, with a preference for affordable street food, art, and merchandise that help represent the unparalleled
international and cultural diversity of Queens and NYC. Interested performing artists are also encouraged to contact the organization.

Despite two crowdfunding campaigns that failed to meet their goals in 2015, the Queens International Night Market took NYC by storm and averaged over 6,000 visitors each Saturday evening in Flushing Meadows. NYC’s first outdoor night market operated for 20 nights and
featured a diverse array of international food, art, merchandise, activities, and free performances.

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz said, “Only in Queens will you find the Queens International Night Market, modeled after the popular open-air night markets of Asia, which debuted here last year. Thanks to the vision and perseverance of entrepreneur John Wang, locals and visitors can enjoy the city’s best tater twists, takoyaki and scallion pancake rolls at the Night Market every Saturday night in the summer months.”

One of the market’s distinguishing factors, apart from the 6pm to midnight operating hours, is the general $5 price cap on food items. John Wang, the Night Market’s organizer and a former corporate attorney, said, “I tried to make the Night Market as accessible and affordable as
possible for our visitors, which meant making it as accessible and affordable as possible for vendors. The focus has always been on community, inclusiveness, and diversity, and I tried to cultivate that every step of the way.”

“The Queens International Night Market is an opportunity to celebrate the incredible diversity of the borough of Queens and the rest of New York City,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “This exciting event allows New Yorkers to experience flavors and cultures from around the world, right in their backyard, and to support their neighbors and local businesses – uniting people across all cultural spectrums.”

The Night Market featured well over 100 independent vendors in 2015, and the majority were first-time entrepreneurs, making their business debuts at the Night Market. Several of them now have plans to start brick-and-mortars. In the lead up to the launch of the Night Market, the organization hopes to co-produce a series of free small business seminars open to vendors interested in the Night Market as well as to
persons generally interested in starting any business.

“Last year was the wildest, most stressful, but also the most exciting year for me”, said Wang. “I didn’t take a single day off in twelve months, but it was worth it to see so many visitors from all over NYC, and from all over the world, really. There were more families and baby strollers every night than I could have imagined. I also love how many small business ventures we were able to encourage.”

Wang said, “I can’t thank the volunteers enough for carrying me through last year. We operated without a staff and relied almost entirely on a team of incredibly dedicated and passionate volunteers. Hopefully some sponsors decide to come on board and engage with our visitors this
year so we can maybe hire a modest staff this time around.”

A video highlighting the Night Market is available here: https://vimeo.com/137883433. ‘)}