It’s kind of like prom—maybe a bat mitzvah, or… a reunion.
It’s how Shayna Karuman describes Fargo’s Asian Night Market—a local gathering, globalized: “I’m really proud that our event can be that for a lot of people.”
Karuman started the annual North Dakota market in 2022 as simply as one can: with Hannah Flohr, Sacred Mauricio, and a well-energized idea.
The trio met through protests and North Dakota State University’s Asian Student Organization (which Flohr founded). The pandemic was riddled with loneliness and hate crimes affecting Asian Americans. This event was their vehicle for change, and they were the gas.
“We all have passion and drive for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in the Fargo-Moorhead area. That’s what pushes us, because of our experiences knowing that loneliness, not having that community,” Flohr says. “We wanted to bring that and continue that…[and] we knew no one else was gonna do this.”
That first market saw 14 vendors. This year’s event on May 23 is welcoming over 40—in a new, bigger location and twice as many food trucks as 2024 (not to mention 1,500 attendees last year, versus 400 at its start). The concept is based off Chinese open-air night markets, and the socializing strolls that come with these cultural pillars.
Filling up a local aviation museum with cuisine, art galore, cultural groups, shopping, and performances, Asian Night Market is a “platform for growth for everyone,” Asian American and Pacific Islander or not, Flohr says.
‘Come, Connect, Learn’
There will be group, experiential art (involving lanterns and fingerprints!) and activities for children; educational opportunities; and a new passport activity to encourage connection among vendors and attendees.
“Our event is a great small step in someone’s journey to learning about cultures around them,” Karuman says. “Demystify the idea that culture is ‘over there.’ Culture is here, and we are people, and you can come up to us and talk to us and support us.”
Painter Nancy X. Valentine is a committed vendor at Asian Night Market. Proudly based in rural Otter Tail County, Minnesota, her artistry is rooted in her Chinese identity.
She, like market organizers and many others, was disheartened by her neighbors’ response to shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2021. She has also felt the impacts of Asian isolation in her rural town, COVID or not.
Art—and markets like these—provides some remedy.
“Here’s a very highly visible offering for the community to be able to come, connect, learn,” Valentine says. “And also, for us Asian people to be in a space and feel economically empowered and also seen.”
She hopes this market can be a bridge for people—to have the “courage to be curious” and “create with care.” And, at the heart of it all, to connect with community.