Chinatown to host night market Thursday

If you were hoping for crickets on a stick, you'll be disappointed.

There will be no skewers of deep-fried starfish, cicadas, or snakeskin, none of the dare-you-to-eat-that snacks that make the night markets of China such a delight.

But there will be plenty of great, cheap - and more familiar - Asian-style treats when China comes to Philadelphia's Chinatown on Thursday, as the neighborhood is host to a traditional night market.

"We want to create an outdoor market that residents are used to, from home - but there's also an economic-development piece," said John Chin, executive director of Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp. "We want to bring visitors to Chinatown, to spend time here, to spend money here."

PCDC has joined with the Food Trust to design a market with 40 food vendors, live music, lion dancing, arts, and atmosphere, starting at 7 p.m. under the Friendship Gate at 10th and Arch Streets.

"At first I didn't want to participate, because we're really busy here, but then I heard more about it," said Annie Ha, owner of QT Vietnamese Sandwich.

The market will help Chinatown and Center City and help her business raise its visibility, Ha said. QT will offer a bargain rate of $3 for half a Vietnamese hoagie.

"Be adventurous," Ha advised. "Try it!"

An estimated 10,000 people are expected to sample fare from vendors such as Yummy Yummy, Hong Kong Bakery, and the Foo Truck. There will also be tacos, brick-oven pizza, and soul food, because, hey, it's a diverse city.

"This is going to be our biggest event yet," said Diana Iskolsky Minkus, the Food Trust night-market coordinator. "This is something Philadelphia has been lacking and something people want to do."

The Chinatown event is the fourth of six markets set in neighborhoods around the city, organized by the Food Trust with the help of community leaders.

PCDC officials want the event to be more than a pleasant, onetime party. They hope it will be a pilot for a more regular Chinatown night market, though no firm plans exist, and a catalyst for renewal.

It is also a chance to show off recent work on 10th Street, the main north-south corridor through Chinatown, where new sidewalks include images of the animals of the Chinese zodiac. Look down, and you may spot a boar, dragon, or sheep.

The Citizens Bank Foundation is providing a $25,000 grant as the main Chinatown market sponsor.

Night markets have been part of Asia for ages, flourishing in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Vietnam. They originally grew out of black markets, started in response to shortages, and were tolerated by authorities so people could meet basic food and clothing needs.

Modern night markets are fun, familiar gathering spots for people young and old. The most spirited markets thrive as rambunctious, little-regulated spaces with food stalls next to tables of bootleg DVDs.

The best known may be Donghuamen, in Beijing, where rows of food stalls offer spring rolls, dumplings, and more unusual fare. Most foods are displayed raw, then seared in a wok or deep-fried.

In North America, several cities have tried to import the night-market tradition, with mixed results.

San Francisco's Chinatown recently restarted its summer market after a three-year absence. Toronto runs a three-day summer market. Perhaps the most successful is in Vancouver, where Chinatown leaders hold a three-day-a-week summer market that soon will mark its 17th year.

"It's helped Chinatown," said Tony Lam, a founder of the Vancouver market. "All the tourists like it. . . . You can spend nothing, or spend $1 or $2 and have a snack."

Lam said he got the idea for a Vancouver model after returning from a trip to Beijing, where the markets' bustle and vitality were on full display. Negotiations with city agencies were arduous, he said, because no one then understood the concept or the value to the community.

Now, said Lam, the market chairman, thousands gather on summer evenings to shop, eat, and enjoy entertainment that ranges from karaoke to Guangdong Opera.

One obstacle to permanency in Philadelphia is space. Chinatown has little open land, and closing streets is expensive.

Franklin Square, the city park at Sixth and Race Streets, seems a logical site, already the host of the annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebration. But that locale would take the market out of Chinatown, providing little benefit to businesses in the neighborhood.

For now, officials are concentrating on making the first Chinatown market a success.

It will be "like the night market you think of when you think of Taiwan and Hong Kong," Iskolsky Minkus said. "We were definitely inspired by these night markets, but not trying to replicate them."

So scorpions and squid are out.

"Unfortunately," she said, "crickets on a stick would not fly."