The Queens International Night Market will return for its fifth season to the New York Hall of Science in
Flushing Meadows Corona Park on Saturdays, starting April 20th, 2019.
The $5 price cap on all food items will remain in place, with a limited number of $6 exceptions. According to John Wang, founder of the event, “The whole point of the Queens Night Market is to serve the broadest possible community, to embrace diversity in ethnicity, in socioeconomic status, in age – in you-name-it. We believe affordability is absolutely critical to achieving this, and that’s why we refuse to let go of the price cap, despite the burden it imposes on the business model.”
Over its first four seasons, the Queens Night Market welcomed nearly one million visitors, helped launch over 200 brand new businesses in New York, and represented over 80 countries through its vendors and their food. In 2018, the event averaged over 10,000 attendees each Saturday night.
In terms of change, the Queens Night Market will open an hour earlier this year, operating from 5pm to midnight on Saturdays. With vendor fees actually lower than last year, this change is intended to help vendors, most of which are first-time small businesses, generate more sales each evening.
This year, the partition around the popular beer and wine garden will be gone, and patrons over 21 will be permitted to consume alcohol throughout the entire event. This means visitors can enjoy beer or wine while they wait in food lines and won’t need to miss out on any of the other action happening throughout the event.
As with the last two years, the Night Market will sell a limited number of tickets for two “sneak preview” events (April 20th and April 27th) to alleviate traffic, capacity issues, and any disruption to the surrounding community. This strategy has been very effective in addressing these concerns, which emerged on opening night of the first two years. Admission to all subsequent events will be free. Sneak
preview tickets will be available for purchase starting in March.