From the colorful sights, beautiful smells of Asian cuisines, and the sounds of singers and dancers — Montrealers and Chinatown merchants are welcoming the public to the 2025 edition of the Chinatown Asian Night Market, scheduled for three days from August 15-17th.
The aim this year looks to help revitalize the east side of Chinatown despite ongoing challenges related to homelessness and safety.
“This kind of concept, it’s all around Asia you’re talking about like, Yatai in Japan, like street food, streets in Korea, in China, in Thailand, so everywhere all around Asia, there’s this culture,” said event organizer Yifeng Eva Hu.
“It’s an experience you do not want to miss in Montreal and it’s free! I mean, what better,” she said.
In collaboration with local initiatives like the Montreal Chinatown round table, visitors and the unhoused community can visit the Indigenous community garden which aims to foster better relationships. Winston Chan of the Montreal Chinatown revitalization committee said they are aware of the homeless situation.
“The Chinatown area has been through a lot we have a lot of vacancy in different spaces here,” Chan said.
“Of course, there’s a lot of safety and homelessness issues but the most important point is we still want to bring –by doing events like this –we really bring back all the Montrealers.”
Hu says all the food that’s unsold by each vendor will be given to the homeless community. She explains that there was never any large conflicts and that the focus is to provide a safer and lively event for both communities.
“The usual homeless people in Chinatown, they’re not a bother. I mean, it’s a situation they’re in. The one with drug issues and all, when they feel like it’s very crowded, those are the ones that we feel a little bit more unsafe about,” she explained.
“Instead of them coming into us, we’re gonna go to them because sometimes we know they don’t feel entirely comfortable coming in and all and we want people here to feel comfortable.”
The Asian Night Market will be held in the heart of Chinatown at Viger and Ste-Dominique, featuring a celebration of Asian culture with authentic dishes prepared by local restaurants. Also included are more than 30 kiosks, local creators, and immersive art installations.
Aaron Wang of restaurant Kim Fung says the key to being introduced to another culture is through food as they plan to offer Montrealers a taste of traditional dim sum.
“Personally, I think this Chinatown is more beautiful than Chinatown from Toronto or Vancouver. So bringing people here will make them recognize that there’s like a historical heritage here in our city. And this is already part of our city, part of our history.”
Art installations are scattered across the area and games and activities are available onsite. Other foods include skewers, noodles, squid on a stick, and of course bubble tea.
The site will be open from noon to 10 p.m. though vendors strongly recommend to visit at night
‘Just enjoy the weather, enjoy the summer,” Wang said. “Winter is cold here, so just come here, have fun, and have a good time.”
