A couple weekends ago, I experienced what apparently is this year’s real Night Market.
From what I understand, the first Night Market I went to is now the old Night Market. It got replaced with the new Night Market this year, and there was certainly a difference. Hurricane Fries were still there, with a much longer lineup. There were more vendor booths, live music and entertainment and a lot more people. Made for a different experience.
The big attraction was clearly the food vendors. I had been warned, when going to the first Night Market, that there would be throngs of people and I would be pushed in one direction by them. There would simply be no other alternative. Just go with the flow.
Rather fitting analogy, no?
Anyway. It wasn’t an issue at the first Night Market but man, so true in the second Night Market!
Taste of Chicago is crowded, to be sure, but people move in all directions. You do a lot of bobbiing and weaving, zigging and zagging at Taste. Not so at Night Market. There is no place to bob, weave or zig-zag. That creates a bottleneck, as I soon found out. Best thing to do is fall in step and go in the direction of the push. Once you get past a row of booths, then you can bob, weave and zig-zag for a moment. That risks bumping into people carry food, some of which is hot. The best thing to do, once you’ve cleared a row of booths, is to stand off to one side and wait. Then merge back into traffic and travel down another row of booths.
I remember there being a bit of a rush at Taste of Chicago, unless it was hot. People are always milling about, walking from one booth to another. Always a little more rushed during the week at lunch. Office workers like the opportunity to get out and pop over. I know I did. Broke up the monotony, and was easy to sample food from places nowhere near the office.
Compared to Night Market, though, Taste of Chicago is chaotic.
I don’t know if it’s the Asian mentality or just how people roll in Vancouver, but Night Market seemed more organized, for lack of a better word. Granted it was still chaotic, but a subdued, orderly chaos. People gently pushed you along, though there was little you could do to resist. People standing in line waited patiently for their turn. Others moved off to the side to wait for their order, or go snag a spot out of the crowd to eat and watch, or wait for friends to get their orders.
Not quite the hustle and bustle of Taste of Chicago, which is OK. Vancouver as a city seems very calm, very lucid. It makes Chicago seem loud and noisy. Who knew?