Check out our vendors’ new digs under the train tracks during this year’s Harlem Night Market at La Marqueta, for the final holiday shopping event.
The event takes places at El Barrio’s historic market space located under the Park Avenue Viaduct.
Hosted by Uptown Grand Central, TBo (The Best Of) Harlem and NYC Public Retail Markets (NYC Economic Development Corporation), the Harlem Night Market at La Marqueta is now in its sixth year of showcasing a culturally diverse lineup of vendors, along the same historic blocks where decades ago thousands from across Harlem and the Bronx used to do their shopping.
This year’s market returned events on the 7th and the 14th, with the last Saturday in December 21st, from 3-7 p.m. each day, with featured vendors on two lots of the La Marqueta Public Market — Lot 2 & Urban Garden Center, located under the Park Avenue Viaduct at 112th Street. This year’s event will include approximately three dozen Uptown-based entrepreneurs per evening, offering foods and gifts that represent the best of Harlem, the Bronx & El Barrio.
Shop
- Lot 2, La Marqueta’s new event plaza located under the tracks from 112th to 113th streets. The lot’s bright new orange and yellow market stalls will be packed with
Savory Foods & Sweet Treats, plus a Dance Floor featuring neighborhood-favorite deejay Stormin’ Norman (December 21, 5-7 p.m.) on the 1’s and 2’s. Make sure to snap a selfie at the Harlem Night Market 360-degree photo booth. You can also donate a market item at the Giving Tree, to be gifted to survivors of domestic- and gender-based violence.
- Urban Garden Center, located under the viaduct from 111th to 112th streets. Now in its fourth generation, Urban Garden Center was relocated last year from 116th Street by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Park Avenue Viaduct Replacement project. Stroll through the scents of wreaths and pine to meet Makers & Artisans who’ll be offering locally made fashion, jewelry, art, beauty care, home goods and more.
Attendees are also encouraged to visit the La Marqueta retail market, the year-round indoor market space with an entrance at 115th Street. Shop the stalls of permanent La Marqueta vendors including Cocotazo, which will be ladling out free Puerto Rican hot chocolate each evening to the first 50 lucky attendees. (Don’t know Puerto Rican hot chocolate? Hint: Blocks of cheese!)
To travel the market from end to end, Harlem’s own Klub Kart Tours will be making loops in oversized golf carts from 112th to 115th streets.
Culture:
Families are encouraged to attend the earlier hours of the market, when there’ll be free workshops for the whole family (3-5 p.m.). Each weekend at Urban Garden Center, make your own Charlie Brown Christmas tree in the garden center’s greenhouse. At the La Marqueta retail market, with the Fabric Wreaths with Harlem Needle Arts (December 21, 3-5 p.m.).
Music
Our final evening (December 21) aligns with Make Music New York, a global celebration of music on the Winter Solstice, when we’ll wrap up the market season with a traditional parranda led by Los Pleneros de la 21. The parranda will kick off at 4 p.m. at Urban Garden Center, then march its way through the market and conclude with a jazz jam with Blue Note saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins from 5-7 p.m. in La Marqueta’s year-round indoor market.
“Since its start as one of New York City’s public markets in the 1930s, La Marqueta has achieved a storied status as the heart of entrepreneurship for East Harlem and all of Uptown,” said Carey King, director of Uptown Grand Central. “For nearly a century now, these blocks under the rumbling Park Avenue train tracks have launched thousands of entrepreneurs with great products and great ideas. It’s our honor to be a part of showcasing that vibrancy for the holidays.”
“The ongoing construction on the Park Avenue Viaduct has shifted our setup, but none of the fun,” said Harlem Night Market and TBo Harlem Founder Tony Rahsaan. “We’ve got a great lineup of vendors who represent the best of Harlem, the Bronx and Uptown. So plan to bundle up, bring your wallets, do some shopping and explore our neighborhood.”
The Park Avenue Viaduct Replacement
The Park Avenue Viaduct Replacement is a project by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to repair and replace portions of the Park Avenue Viaduct, the elevated steel structure that carries four Metro-North Railroad tracks along Park Avenue between East 110th Street and the Harlem River Lift Bridge. First built in the 1890s, the viaduct carries approximately 750 trains and hundreds of thousands of customers on a typical weekday, and is now 130 years old. The construction project will keep the public safe, make the viaduct more resilient, and reduce noise and vibration levels by using stronger materials. Phase One construction began in October 2023 and is scheduled to continue through 2026, and includes the complete replacement of the viaduct from East 115th to 123rd streets. The project has required the relocation of Urban Garden Center from 116th to 111th streets, as well as the demolition and reconstruction of La Placita at 116th Street.
La Marqueta
La Marqueta’s story goes back to 1936, when the City opened the Park Avenue Retail Market to bring East Harlem’s pushcart vendors under one roof. As the neighborhood transformed from Italian Harlem into Spanish Harlem after World War II, the Park Avenue Retail Market became “La Marqueta,” specializing in Latin American and Caribbean goods for the residents of East Harlem, Central Harlem, and the South Bronx. La Marqueta is managed by the NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYC EDC) as one of six Public Retail Markets across the city. The mission of NYC EDC Public Retail Markets is to create shared prosperity across the five boroughs by strengthening neighborhoods and creating good jobs, by creating world-class destinations for visitors and preserving the authentic cultural heritage at each market.
Uptown Grand Central
Uptown Grand Central is an East Harlem nonprofit on a mission to create a thriving, vibrant neighborhood. Founded by small business owners on East 125th Street, the organization works to create great public spaces, promote entrepreneurship, and showcase local arts and culture. Its programming includes the East 125th Street Clean Team, the Grandscale Mural Project, Winter Lights, Open Streets, Party On Park, Small Business Bike Rides and activating the 125th Street Plaza adjacent to the Harlem-125th Street Metro-North Station.
TBo Harlem
TBo Harlem is a Harlem-based media company that specializes in supporting, marketing and amplifying small businesses, community issues, and the culture of East and West Harlem. As part of its work in building a local community of entrepreneurs, TBo is curating the vendors featured throughout the market.
Vendors
More than 80 percent of the vendors are based Uptown, and include:
Makers: Harlem Fashion Week, For the Culture, Harlem Hoopz, East Harlem Preservation, CULTURE by SuperGoode, Body Vanity, Hannahbandanah, FraMiAti, Angel Rays Designs, Carmen Community Artist, Museum Mile Art, Nana Q, A NYC KID, Haute Theory, Chatterless, Closiist, Dega Co., HardWear Style, HOPE Center Harlem, King Beard Care, Sincerely Bade, Top 3! Games, The Christmus Corner, Lend Me Your Ears, Crocheting In The City, Tarin Andrea Designs, Lillie Mae Handmade Aromatherapy Products, Africa In Harlem, Concrete Garden Candles, Unbridled Luxe Candle Co., Adinkra Republic, Mermaid Thread, Taller Jibaro, Zusana’s Accessories, Gorgeous Bum, Pinchazo, GZ Fotografias, Rebelorisha, Sarah Noda Art, Lady K Fever, Ysabel Abreu (Ysabel Studio), Arlene Pineda, Axxhouse, Studio Yatu, Erica Purnell, Art In The Park & author Christopher Bell.
Savory Foods: Au Jus Oklahoma Barbecue, Black Rican Vegan, Cafe Ollin, Creole Soul Food, Maryam’s Yum Yum, Mama T, Fauzia’s Heavenly Delights, The Eggroll Queen, Arnie & Ebony Catering, TNT Pineapple, Catch It Seafood Box, Alta Garden & Cocotazo.
Sweet Foods: The Coquito Lady, Campbell & Carr, Lexington Sugar, Atla’s Conchas, Sweet Isla Bakery, Greensicle Cider Club, Grace Kelli Cupcakes, Kikis Cookies, Cupcake Queen Raven, Eat My Cake Too, & Lizzy’s Treats.
Sponsors
The Harlem Night Market at La Marqueta is brought to you by Uptown Grand Central, TBo Harlem and the NYC Economic Development Corporation, with support from Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala, the NYC Department of Small Business Services, Ponce Bank, Union Settlement, Urban Garden Center, Harlem Needle Arts, Make Music New York and El Museo del Barrio.
Dates & Location:
Saturdays, 21st, 2024, 3-7 p.m. EST daily
- Lot 2 (Park Avenue at 112th Street)
- Urban Garden Center (Park Avenue at 111th Street)
- La Marqueta Year-Round Market (Park Avenue at 115th Street)
Photo credit: La Marqueta Year-Round Market.
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