St. Paul's growing Little Mekong Night Market opens this weekend

Organizers were hopeful that the third annual incarnation of the Little Mekong Night Market, to be held Saturday and Sunday at University and Western avenues in St. Paul, would have a fancy new plaza to call home.

But construction delays have left workers nowhere near finished at the gravel-covered lot, and the plaza won't open in time for this year's event.

That doesn't mean there won't be a really big party, however.

More than 70 vendors — from food sellers to arts and crafts groups and nonprofits — will join musicians, break-dancers and visual artists to make this year's Night Market bigger than ever, said Audrey Park, communications and program coordinator. With forecast high temperatures expected to break just in time for the weekend, Park said officials expect to surpass the 15,000 people who attended the two-day event last year.

"We wanted to be in the new plaza," Park said of the nearby planned green space where workers broke ground in April. "But it won't be done in time."

That won't stop the Night Market, a project of the Asian Economic Development Association and billed as the Twin Cities' only Asian-inspired night market, said Jeffrey Whitman, event manager.

"It has gotten bigger and bigger every year," he said.

It began in the summer of 2014 as a way to coax more people to a corridor of St. Paul filled with Southeast Asian food markets, restaurants and family-owned businesses. The idea was to mimic the street markets so prevalent in Asia.

The first year, the event was held in a parking lot behind the building housing the Mai Village restaurant and the Hmong American Partnership. The next year, a larger night market moved to adjacent Western Avenue. This year's event will line Western and the parking lot. Night Market hours are 5 p.m. to midnight Saturday and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free.

Musicians, dancers and spoken word artists will fill three stages, with acts such as Speakers of the Sun, Mayda and LOTT performing. An art gallery in the community room of the new Western U Plaza apartment building in the former Old Home factory to the east of Mai Village will provide a cool and quiet spot. And the Night Market will feature food from more than 40 vendors, including Asian, East African and Latino cuisines.

For Ericka Trinh, co-owner of the new Silhouette Bakery and Bistro at the corner of University and Western, this third Night Market marks the achievement of a dream.

A longtime stylist at nearby Anh's Hairstylists — where she still cuts hair in a pinch — Trinh opened her bakery three months ago after running the business as a catering service out of other restaurants' kitchens. Now, she said, she hopes the Night Market and the Green Line's Western Avenue light-rail station outside her front door attract a larger wave of customers from outside the neighborhood.

"Hopefully, my building will stand out and people will get excited about what we are doing here," she said.

The sleek slate-gray building with clean lines and a Euro style is not only a full service bakery, but sells snacks, tacos and rice bowls. Trinh said she'll be selling Japanese-style filled buns at Night Market, including Chinese barbecue pork, chocolate custard, green tea custard and vanilla custard.

"Just the other day, a woman came in here and said she saw my business and got off the train to check it out," Trinh said. "I hope that's what people who come to Night Market will do, too."

James Walsh • 651-925-5041