On a perfect weather night last October, the first ever Night Market in Philadelphia took place in the Passyunk Avenue neighborhood.  With the combination of good weather, terrific participating local restaurants and the city’s most popular food trucks and other street food vendors, the Night Market was an unbridled success.  Tons of people walked around a great neighborhood and sampled many wonderful eats. 

The second edition took place this Thursday night, in a special Philly Beer Week edition.  Moving on to a different neighborhood, Night Market was held at a large parking lot on 39th and Market.  Not quite the same as  Passyunk Avenue and having a little bit of the feel of attending a church-sponsored fair in my youth, but that’s neither here nor there.  Despite the oppressive 90 degree heat, droves of people still came out (at least until the much-needed rain fell around 8 p.m.). 

Playing off the success of the fall’s edition, this effort featured large does of taco trucks and other mobile vendors though, in contrast to the first one because of the location, not much in the way of establsihed neighborhood restaurant stands.  The big hits were the Philly debut of Nomad Pizza, which makes handmade Neapolitan-style pizza in its mobile brick oven (at a reasonable $9-10), taco trucks (Honest Tom, Guapos Tacos and Chris Taco Stand all had huge lines), and beverage stands (Made in the Shade Lemonade and the Blockley Beer Garden had big business thanks to the weather).  What was not as as hot?  Hub Bub coffee didn’t exactly have people waiting, and the multiple cupcake trucks (Sweetbox Cupcakes, Jimmies and  Sugar Philly) may have oversaturated the cupcake market.

Overall, the second Night Market was a good event, especially considering the weather, but it definitely was a notch down from the success of the fall event.  There were a lot of attendees, but some of the lines were insane.  It’s a great idea, similar to the likes of the Rittenhouse Row Festival and other neighborhood fairs.  In addition to taking place in actual real neighborhoods (maybe Chinatown, Headhouse Square, etc.),  perhaps it actually needs  more high quality vendors (and beer stands) to alleviate the lines.