Megan T.
Yelp
I have been coming to the 626-night market for the last decade, at least eight times. There is a metal detector you walk through, and your bag gets searched. You aren't allowed to bring in stizys or any weed products. Vendors were selling croc charms, crochet plants/animals/pokemon, jewelry, stickers, enamel pins, fidget toys, and artwork. There is less variation in the craft vendors, where you see a bunch with the same products. Where you can tell a bunch of it is the same AI-generated stuff, and enamel pins are from Shein or Alibaba. You can see in the enamel pins that whatever it references, colors, or wording is slightly off. However, there are always several original creators and vendors who came up with their own things that I love interacting with and buying stuff from.
There are plenty of food and dessert vendors; however, the prices have gone insanely up. During this visit, the things I got that I enjoyed were bulgogi noodles, lobster garlic noodles, and chili garlic noodles. About 30-50% of the food vendors are the same each year. Additionally, I've noticed that each year, there will be different percentages of food vendors of various ethnicities in Asian cuisine. Such as this year, I noticed a majority of Korea, Filipinos, and Chinese influence. There are carnival games and bars where you can get alcoholic drinks. There are bathrooms in the building or porta potties near the vendors, and I highly recommend walking to the bathrooms at the buildings. There is an entertainment stage where music or live musical performances are played.
Parking is free, and drop a pin where you park since the parking lot can get tricky. I have wandered around several times when I forgot to drop a pin.
I still enjoy it and will return once a year, but I am disappointed to see the decline.