You may not have noticed it because you were busy making blissful memories with your radiant family over Thanksgiving weekend, but the Brooklyn Night Bazaar kicked off on Friday night in a cavernous warehouse on the Williamsburg waterfront. Inspired by night markets in Asia, the sprawling bazaar boasts myriad food vendors, local creative vendors, artists, breweries, live music, DJs, and fun and games. It's the perfect place to shop for distinctive hand-crafted holiday gifts while eating a sausage, drinking a beer, dancing to Black Dice and playing soccer, ping pong, and Petanque!
Admission is free and there is so much going on at this thing that we don't know where to start. The big marketplace section with the food and the vendors has all the darling Etsy-esque artisanal items you need to let everyone on your shopping list know that you are from Brooklyn, even if you live in Battery Park. Last weekend over 10,000 people converged on the bazaar over the course of the weekend, and there was still plenty of elbow room, because the space is truly massive. Just feast your eyes on the list of food vendors:
- Ample Hills Creamery (Prospect Heights ice cream shop, #1 in NYC by Zagat)
- Arancini Bros. (Bushwick-based sicilian rice ball treat shop)
- Baohaus Taiwanese Steamed Buns (Taiwanese street food featuring Gua Bao, bao fries, and boiled peanuts)
- DUB Pies (New Zealand-Australian savory pies)
- Eagle Street Rooftop Farms (green roof organic vegetable farm located atop a warehouse in Greenpoint)
- Krasula Pierogi Bar (Polish pop-up bar featuring the pierogi)
- Le Comptoir (market driven menu, evolving with the seasons)
- Oaxaca Taqueria (Traditional Mexican Fare)
- Pok Pok NY (Northern Thai restaurant)
- Rosamunde Sausage Grill (Williamsburg hangout with great grilled sausage)
- Fare Trade NYC (community of like-minded food entrepreneurs)
- Sixpoint Craft Ales (Red Hook brewery)
- Oskar Blues Brewery (Colorado based craft brewery)
- Brooklyn Winery (Winery in Williamsburg)
This weekend's entertainment will be provided by Rockie Fresh, Kilo Kish, Fatima Al Qadiri, CFCF and many others. Also new this weekend: A sound reactive light installation by Jason Krugman, which should make a nice compliment to the electroluminescent wires that architect Brendan Shea hung throughout the warehouse. And just in case you had any doubt that this wouldn't be Williamsburgy enough for you, The Sketchbook Project's mobile trailer will be on hand to welcome all those inclined to peruse artist's sketchbooks from around the world. We recommend it!
(Disclosure: Gothamist has a hand in the grand finale concert on December 22nd, lineup TBA Friday.)
