Sunset Night Market Returns at Double the Size
By Supervisor Joel Engardio
The Sunset Night Market is returning at double the size. It will be held on multiple nights and we’re also adding a beach party edition!
Sunset Night Market on Irving
Friday August 30 from 5pm to 10pm
Friday September 27 from 5pm to 10pm
Taraval Night Market at the Beach — Great Highway and Taraval
Saturday September 21 from 3pm to 9pm
We’re expanding the Sunset Night Market experience to meet demand. More than 10,000 people showed up to the first-ever Sunset Night Market last fall.
They were 10,000 antidotes to San Francisco’s “doom loop” narrative. They were hungry for a positive experience to bring people together, make streets safer, and give small businesses a boost in San Francisco.
This is what a night market does. A space to have the fun with food, music, and art.
The Sunset Night Market showed what was possible and now there are night markets in neighborhoods throughout San Francisco. We want you to visit them all — and be sure to come back to where it started.
Here’s what to expect:
Sunset Night Market on Irving
We are doubling the size of this year’s night market. It will be seven full blocks from 19th to 26th Avenues on Irving Street. A majority of the booths will serve food with a focus on Asian cuisine.
The size and scope of the Sunset Night Market makes it unique. We are a full service night market featuring hot food and food cooked on the street. We are twice as big as night markets in other neighborhoods and feature much more live entertainment and music.
Celebrity Chef Martin Yan will kick off the August 30 Sunset Night Market. There will be multiple stages for entertainment and a kid zone for families with young kids. Don’t miss the stinky tofu eating contest featuring local media celebrities.
Friday August 30 from 5pm to 10pm
Friday September 27 from 5pm to 10pm
Taraval Night Market at the Beach — Great Highway and Taraval
If you have toddlers and young kids, drop them off at grandma’s on your way to the Beach Party Edition of our night market series.
It will be music-focused with a dance party atmosphere along with food and drink. The sunset viewing countdown will be a fun part of the oceanside event.
Saturday September 21 from 3pm to 9pm
Did you say stinky tofu eating contest?
Yes, it’s game on for the Sunset Night Market stinky tofu eating contest!
This is a photo of my husband Lionel in training at Raohe Night Market in Taipei, the inspiration of San Francisco’s Sunset Night Market.
Kristen Sze of ABC7 News claims she will win. But SF Standard reporter Han Li has joined the challenge. Now the reporters are trading barbs on social media.
Which San Francisco media celebrities do you want to see compete?
Who is producing the Sunset Night Market and Beach Party?
The Sunset Night Market is produced by a collaboration of Sunset-based organizations and street fair experts including Wah Mei School, Sunset Mercantile, Into the Streets, and Asian Inc. This group was awarded a grant funded by the city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development.
The Beach Party edition is produced by Artyhood, which was also a winner of the same grant.
If you want to be a food vendor or musical/entertainment act please contact the following producers:
Sunset Night Market on Irving Street
Beach Party edition at Great Highway and Taraval
What inspired bringing a night market to the Sunset?
The Sunset Night Market is inspired by the great night markets of Asia, in particular the famous Raohe Night Market in Taipei. My husband is from Taipei. When we visit his family there every December, we eat our way through the Raohe Night Market. I felt we needed to bring this experience to San Francisco and Irving Street in the Sunset was the perfect place for it.
News reports about the return of Sunset Night Market:
San Francisco Chronicle
Highlights From the First Sunset Night Market
At the opening ceremony, my husband and I explained what the night market means to our community:
News headlines also told the story:
The event opened with a rousing performance by the Lowell High School drum corps and an entertaining cooking demonstration by celebrity chef Martin Yan.
Celebrity Chef Martin Yan gives a cooking demonstration
For the next five hours, there were musical and dancing acts on three stages. There was literal dancing in the street with a DJ at the intersection of 21st Avenue and Irving.
A kids zone featured a giant inflatable slide and games. There was something for all ages. Families with young kids could get an early dinner when the night market opened at 5p and teenagers could hang out enjoying boba tea and music until 10p.
The mayor spoke and gave Chef Yan a proclamation. But my favorite speech was by my husband Lionel Hsu.
He was the inspiration for the night market. Lionel’s family lives in Taipei, which has some of the world’s most famous night markets. We attend those night markets every year. I always thought the Sunset deserves its own night market and now we do.
Here’s what Lionel had to say:
“I immigrated from Taiwan to America many years ago, and people have been asking me why I love San Francisco so much. I said because it is such a unique place, so inclusive, that everyone can call it home! To me, home is a place with lights and food at night, and the night market is exactly like that — it feels like home! I hope you feel the same. So, please make yourself at home, and have a great time!”
By all accounts everyone had a good time despite the immense crowd and long lines. We simply never could have anticipated 10,000 people showing up, even in our wildest dreams.
There was a positive energy as folks marveled at a community gathering we’ve never seen in the Sunset before.
Starting something new isn’t easy. Here’s one example: Overcoming the hurdle to put the booths in the center of the street. Typical street fairs in San Francisco place the booths against the curb with people walking in the middle of the street. This creates a wall of booths against the physical businesses, which discourages exploration and discovery of everything a merchant corridor offers.
With booths in the center of the street, people can move freely between the booths and the businesses along the sidewalk. This configuration required approval from the fire marshal. We met on Irving Street and measured the street to figure out how we could make center-street booths work while still maintaining a fire lane.
Thanks to the center-of-street booths, all the brick-and-mortar restaurants along Irving had record business for a single night with lines out the door for hours.
We owe a big “thank you” to all the innovators who made our history-making night market a reality. Angie Petitt and Carol Lau from the Sunset Mercantile curated the entire event. Their colleague Kevin North booked all the musical acts. Avenue Greenlight and the San Francisco Parks Alliance helped get it funded.
Thank you to all the vendors and brick-and-mortar storefronts who pioneered something new. Many reported their businesses had one of the busiest nights on record. I'm so proud to partner with everyone who believes in the vision.
Thank you to the 10,000 people who showed up to support joy.
This is how we will create our best San Francisco.