Little Mekong Night Market

I'm trying to make a more concerted effort to attend events that Cultural STAR supports; it's probably not possible because we give away over a million dollars a year to scores of events, but I am giving it a shot! Just in the last week I have read a book from the Lucky Day shelf at the library (we give $175,000 a year to the libraries, taken right off the top of our funds), saw The New Standards at Lowertown Sounds, and last night, we headed to the Little Mekong Night Market.


I love this event, because it's so authentic to the area (I have a theory about how Saint Paul events are firmly rooted in place while Minneapolis tends to plug in "Name of Place Open Streets," but I digress). I love the warm summer heat and smells that make it really feel like every East Asian night market I have gone to. I love the illuminated booths, and the art spaces.


The first thing we did was go to the lantern booth, where Beatrix's friend from school, Lani, was working. We loved these wishes, and also the "Ancestors DM Machine."


It was great to see my YALT kids rocking the 825 Arts booth.

We had a delicious Vietnamese crepe, and bahn mi, and mochi donuts, and bubble tea.


They had a survey booth, where if you filled out a survey about the event you got $5 in merchant vouchers, which we definitely appreciated!

We spent a couple of hours there, just walking around and looking at things and listening and people watching on a warm summer night.

At the end of the night, Beatrix thanked us for a great night together, and that's worth its weight in gold.

If you are reading this on Sunday, 7/29, the market goes on from noon to 8pm today — you won't get the unique "night market" sense, but it would still be fun!


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