PATCH
By Nick Garber
Here's a taste of what's on tap in Harlem this week, including a popular night market complete with a trolley, ice-skating and lots of food.
HARLEM, NY — It's beginning to look a lot like the holiday season in Harlem.
With the lights on 125th Street officially sparkling, the neighborhood is filled with holiday events, from the return of a popular marketplace to multiple tree lightings to an unusual kind of "silent" dance party.
Here are a few of the most notable events happening in Harlem in the coming days.
Harlem Night Market at La Marqueta
The popular evening market beneath the Park Avenue train tracks is back for three weekends this year, following its well-received launch in 2019 and successful pandemic-era return last year.
The night market returns Saturday, Dec. 3, from 4-8 p.m., and again on Dec. 10 and 17 during the same times.
Spanning three blocks between East 115th and 117th streets, this year's expanded list of vendors are mostly Harlem-based. They include food vendors like Cafe Ollin, Lolo's Seafood Shack and Flames Indian Aroma, sweet treats from Make My Cake and Harlem Baking Co., makers and artisans including Harlem Hoopz, Museum Mile Artand East Harlem Preservation, and dozens of others.
All three weekends will include visits from "Santa," a bounce house and a 360-degree photo booth. And a special trolley service will take visitors from the market to El Museo del Barrio and the East Harlem Holiday Tree on Dec. 10, and to a pop-up skating rink on Uptown Grand Central's 125th Street holiday plaza on Dec. 17.
Learn more on the Night Market's Eventbrite page or Instagram. (For the Dec. 17 ice-skating, attendees must register in advance on Eventbrite.)
"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," said Carey King, director of Uptown Grand Central, which runs the holiday market alongside NYC Public Markets, TBo Harlem and Union Settlement.