Night moves down in the Rondout

The theme of last Friday’s market was a country fair, mainly conveyed in the old-fashioned popcorn maker placed outside At Home Antiques. The Broadway Photo Booth, a digital photography service that’s a throwback to those vintage photo booths in the five- and-ten, also contributed to the fair-like ambience. Proprietor Nancy Donskoj, who also owns The Storefront Gallery, keeps a box of boas, funny hats and other props on hand so that people can have fun with their instant self-portraits.

Honey, a four-year-old dachshund-beagle mix owned by Susan Appollo, takes in the scene as her portrait drawn by caricature artist Eric Lee of Kerhonkson. (Photo by Phyllis McCabe)

Gee and Zalinsky got the idea for the market from their travels to Asia (the couple own a luggage company, which necessitates frequent trips to China). “Night markets are very popular in Asia,” Gee said. “They’re usually located in a big open area where people pitch tents and sell stuff. Most places in Asia have a lot of food, but we don’t have that because we don’t want to compete with the restaurants.” Several of the restaurants, including Dermot Mahoney’s and Ship to Shore, were offering a 10 percent discount on food and drink to people who mentioned the Night Market, she said.

Besides spurring more business, the Night Market is also helping to re-unite the Rondout business community, she noted. The waterfront businesses, which started their own marketing organization separate from the Rondout Business Association (whose president is Rebecca Milne, owner of At Home Antiques), “asked us to come back onboard and start doing events again,” she said.

The theme for the Sept. 20 market will be photography. (The July theme of an Octopus’ Garden was particularly imaginative, with the antique shops arranging garden furniture around a tree and a stanza from the Beatles song posted in each flower box.)

“People are really enjoying it, and there’s always something different,” said Gee, noting that developing the full potential of the Night Market takes time. “Most things take three years to really jell,” she added. “I hope that next year will be bigger.”