Downtown Fullerton Plaza filled with life as the seasonal Fullerton Night Market opened up its market season for this spring. It offered a variety of vendors, as well as live entertainment and a fun environment for families.
This year’s market season began April 2 and will run through Sept. 3. The market has run during this timeframe for over a decade.
Hosted by the Fullerton Parks and Recreation Center, the Fullerton Night Market features a weekly rotation of different musicians and bands. It also holds different themed nights to attract more engagement from the community.
“It’s just pretty much bringing on a relationship of vendors that’ve been coming for years, along with new vendors, bands,” said Chuy Sandoval, the recreation supervisor for Fullerton. “Just bringing the community with local businesses and sponsors to come out and provide entertainment and businesses for the community.”
The market itself has brought out the Fullerton community, with several vendors having either played a role in the market or previously visited, inspiring them to become weekly participants.
At the entrance, a small business called Mrs. Candlier which sold handmade candles. Mrs. Candlier is owned by Erika Seals, who has attended the market frequently as both a visitor and seller.
“It definitely brings repeat customers, people that come here every Thursday, they come back to buy candles or they grab a business card and then they order later,” Seals said.
In the middle of the night market was Black Sheep Farms, a business that sells fresh produce. Black Sheep Farms is passed down through three generations and has been invited to the Fullerton Night Market since 2010.
“I’ve seen couples meet, them get married, kids get born, all at this market,” said owner of Black Sheep Farms Joshua Jaime.
The Fullerton Night Market also offers several opportunities for the small businesses that are participating, such as information booths and social media marketing.
Downtown Fullerton focuses on incorporating activities within the market while actively seeking out opportunities for local businesses. Some activities include live music, face painting and a play area for children.
“We’re creating an opportunity for those businesses and I think that that’s really important for us to help out our businesses here in Fullerton because we mix it in with other fun things,” Sandoval said. “We are actually really deeply willing to do anything to help our local businesses.”
Most people that visit the market come to see various vendors and explore the different variety of products. Locals visit the market yearly and enjoy the aspect of the market taking place during the evening.
“This definitely has more of a family feel than some of the others because it has the entertainment and the music and the fountains and the things that the kids play in,” said attendee Sarah Kessler. “It’s definitely one that you can come and just hang out at versus some of the others I’ve gone to.”
The night market is held every Thursday and runs from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Parking and admission is free and the market is open to all ages.