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The sound of sizzling grills from Esposito’s Meats, 1001 S. Ninth St., and the taste of sweet treats from Isgro Pasticceria, 1009 Christian St., accompanied about 60 other diverse food vendors, lunch trucks and area businesses June 27 for South Philly’s second Night Market.
About 25,000 people braved the heat and came out for the food, arts and music bazaar — founded and hosted by The Food Trust that partnered with Bella Vista United Civic Association and The South Ninth Street Italian Market — which stretched from Eighth to 11th streets along Washington Avenue and ran on Ninth Street from Ellsworth to Christian streets.
“There’s obviously a very rich food history here at the Italian Market, and it’s wonderful to highlight and show how that rich history is still going on and it’s very, very modern and very at-the-moment,” The Food Trust’s Executive Director Yael Lehmann, of 10th and Carpenter streets, said.
Mike Fager came from New Jersey to attend the event that he saw advertised on Facebook.
“There’s a lot of different stuff,” he said, as he snacked on margherita pizza from Nomad Pizza, 611 S. Seventh St.
From Mexican specialties to Asian delights to Caribbean soul food and Italian treats, the Night Market celebration was a mouthwatering — and affordable — success determined by the smiles on everyone’s faces, all enjoying locally grown goodies, including beers, wines and more, from almost every participating vendor.
“There’s probably new things that people didn’t realize, so it’s nice to bring people out and reintroduce the neighborhood to people,” Lehmann, who also performed at the event with her band Happy Accident, said.
On Ninth Street, at least 16 local businesses, one of the busiest being Esposito’s Meats with its classic Italian pig roast, were showcased. Jules Esposito from Esposito’s Porchetta, 1627 S. 10th St., cooked the roast pork for both his stand on Washington Avenue and his cousin’s on Ninth Street.
“I thought it was pretty successful, it seemed like a really nice crowd,” Alexis Albater, an Esposito’s Meats worker and resident of 11th Street and Snyder Avenue, said after the event.
Throughout The Food Trust’s 20 years of existence, its mission has been to provide affordable, healthy food to everyone, especially in impoverished areas. One of the ways the nonprofit has done that is through its 26 farmers markets around the city, including local destinations in Grays Ferry, Lower Moyamensing and Point Breeze.
From the realization of how great a community revolves around a farmers market, Night Market formed in the fall of 2010 — with its first debut of 17 vendors on East Passyunk Avenue at the Singing Fountain — as a “next-generation farmers market,” White said.
Aside from the pilot Night Market, there have been four other prior markets — in University City, Mount Airy, Chinatown and Northern Liberties.
Gus Isgro, the owner of the Bella Vista-based bakery, tracked what Night Market was doing and said he was “blown away” by the May event in Northern Liberties, which had 45 vendors and about 20,000 attendees.
Excited to get involved, Isgro applied to participate at the Washington Avenue Night Market.
To prepare for the warm, busy night, he made freshly baked cupcakes and sfogliatellas and packed the cannoli fillings inside plastic containers with ice until needed.
“We stocked up on a lot of items that are durable, that don’t need heavy refrigeration,” he said.
Anticipating a large turnout, Isgro had more sweet treats ready about a block away.
“I’ve got four boys running back and fourth to the warehouse,” he said.
The Night Market provides an outlet for Philadelphia restaurants, vendors and more, while getting people engaged and excited about the celebration of food, White said.
“[South Philly] is such a cool food scene,” White said. “To me, this is an exciting place to be for food in Philly, and for me that was a big part of the reason I wanted to bring people down here.”
Regan Cooper from Eighth and Wharton streets attended the Washington Avenue event with her neighbor Holly Keefe — both previous Night Market attendees.
“I think this one is much better in that it’s on a much wider street, so I think it will be better to accommodate for the herds of people that show up,” Cooper said.
“… I love that they do these events. I think that it’s a really great way to get people out in the summer.”
Cooper and Keefe spent most of their time before the sun went down staying cool inside the Night Market’s first full-on VIP tent experience, which was sponsored by ?uest Loves Food and Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corp.
The tent exhibited local art from With Art Philadelphia; Philadelphia Distilling cocktails designed by Farmers’ Cabinet mixologists; beer from Yards Brewing Co.; wine from Penns Wood Winery; and Love’s Drumsticks, ?uestfucious Cupcakes and music curated by ?uestlove, the Philly native and The Roots drummer.
The pop-up tent tickets sold out at $55 a head, and all proceeds went to The Food Trust and future Night Market celebrations.
“The idea behind the tent is that we want Night Market to be sustainable. We want to be able to do this for as long as people are excited about it,” White said. “It’s one small fundraising effort to give people something cool and different, and to help support the program.”
About 70 people involved in The Food Trust and other organizations around Philadelphia helped from set-up until cleanup by passing out maps, giving directions, keeping the area clean and much more. Volunteers counted nearly 5,000 more attendees than the Northern Liberties Night Market, making this event’s turnout the highest thus far, White said.
The people attending the celebration were considered just as diverse as the food options.
“South Philly has a great mix of people,” Lehmann said. “It’s really fun at Night Market to see the reflection of that, all the different people out.”
Every neighborhood brings a different, organic experience, White said.
“It really felt like South Philly,” she said.
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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