New night market coming to Honest Ed's alley

All you can eat? Good look getting more a single serving of anything with inevitable crowds that will be there.

Enough with all this Eaton Centre shooting stuff, BlogTO. You're starting to seem alarmist.

Love the idea, but $50 to stand in a crowd and elbow your way to a mini pulled pork sandwich? I'd rather have a lovely sit down meal for $30 and donate $20 to the The Stop.

I thought the whole 'night market' concept is that they're cheap and accessible.

Fifty bucks? You've pretty much ruined the idea of a night market.

Wow. BlogTO commenters really are the worst. A post about an original idea featuring good food and beer in a cool space that even incorporates design elements and in less than an hour there's been eight comments and they're all bitching.

if you want to take part without paying, STOP needs volunteers for the event and they'll include food for you too

http://thestop.org/volunteer

I really dislike the use of the term night market for this. Same with the whole food trucks thing in this city.

I need some authentic mom & pop spots popping up in the city.

How come Caplansky's is not on this list?

the fact that this event is ridiculously expensive aside, does everything in this city have to be 19+???

I think instead of just saying "wow people sure are whiners" you should look at it as free, somewhat constructive criticism from possible customers.

Wrong page, dude. This is about food

It's a donation and raising awareness about the program. It's a CHARITY event.

Why do events like this have to be so expensive? Kind of an irony that an expensive market will be located on the premises of one of the city's cheapest retail emporiums. Good cause, yes, but calling it a night market (ever been to BKK?) is a misnomer. This is an excuse for wealthy people to go to a scrubbed up alley and pretend they're getting their hands dirty in a dodgy hood.

If 50 bucks that's destined for charity is a lot of money for you, then I'd say skip the event. There's lots of people out there who will be more than happy to lay down that amount for what's on offer. Can I say that one more time? It's for charity...and you get some good stuff to eat & drink. Win/win.

I would go there at 5-6 buy dinner there. Then watch some bands play, or hang out around the bar, then buy some more food later there at like 9-10 BUT I'd spend what I'd like which is probably more than $50 anyway - so don't charge me $50!

$50 is outrageous.

Sure it's for Charity, and they have to pay staff, but couldn't they get it sponsored to offset the cost? $50 is a weeks worth of groceries for most people. I thought the street food festival at $20 entry (with actual food being additional) was outrageous...But this is ridiculous. All over the world there's food festivals just like this (or even at harbourfront), but you don't have to pay admission, or some outrageous all you can eat price.

I can see it now: Alley fenced off at each end with heavy security posted. Inside security perimeter, wall to wall scenesters cooing "Oooooh, were eating food in an actual alley!" "With design features!" "And beer!!" "This soooo incredibly uuuuuuurban!" "Not to mention wacky and zany!" "Wherever did you get those shoes?" "Oh don't even ask how much I paid for them.." "Well if it was half as much as I paid for these pants.."

At $50 and no under 19's allowed this is a rather bizarre interpretation of what the rest of the world would consider a night market. I doubt the organizers have ever been to a real one or they would have called it D-bag Alley Preenfest. Or something!

So really, the headline should be 'New charity fundraiser happening at Honest Ed's Alley'.

Yes, because we should placate those with attention spans that expire before the end of the first paragraph. Time to put on the dunce cap.

"This ISN'T 'free, constructive criticism' but bullshit whining disguised as such, simply because people like you feel entitled to having food from a truck without any oversight from the city or province to make sure said food is safe."


Joe your comments are laughable at best. Entitled lol... and what the fuck are you on about "oversight"? My god are you misguided. Try and make a single point and run with it

why can't night market be just like night market in Taiwan

I think the complaints here have merit. A night market is a market where food and other items are for sale, open to everyone, no restrictions. This is a charity event, restricted to a segment of the populations that can afford to pay $50 without otehrwise affecting their budget. The perception is that the upper socioeconomic class has co-opted what belongs to the masses. That's the reason for the anger you are feeling.

So do I get a tax refund receipt if this is for an actual valid Charity?

@Gabe I assume so for some part of the ticket - you'd have to ask the stop.

If you receive something in exchange for a donation than usually they don't give a receipt unless the donation amount is largely over the "value" of whatever you receive. Like, Toronto Taste tickets, to put this in perspective are $250. I think they issue a tax receipt for like $125 for that one (Second Harvest). I doubt they will be issuing tax receipts for any portion of The Stop event or they would have mentioned it on the site but you could contact them to confirm.

you can always go to http://www.waterfrontnightmarket.com/ instead.

Dammit - sold out! It better not be all your haters buying up those tickets!

I love what The Stop does and I donate to them when I can, but this event has hipster, foodie, 'look at me' fest written all over it. You can't pick up a freakin' weekly in this town without reading endless articles about charcuterie, craft beer, artisanal bacon infused whatever - it has a snobby vibe, not to mention shits expensive.

A bunch of whiners here. It's for charity. If you don't think it's worth it, don't go. Holy fuck.

Well, why hold an expensive charity event in a cheap part of town, beside a notoriously cheap retailer, on a street where cheap University students hang out.

Don't ask me, ask STOP.

Right. It's not a night market, it's a charity event (Which point seems to be lacking from the flier IMO). Maybe it's just the title of this article that is throwing people off. "New night market coming to Honest Ed's alley" seems to suggest that Toronto is getting an actual night market. Only to be disappointed when they read the actual article to find out it's nothing of the sort.

As for being out of touch with the industry on the subject of food carts. All I mean is, (IMO) too many people getting into the industry seem to think they can start selling their products at premium price. Which, I don't doubt they can get away with in this city. I just hope that doesn't become the norm. For example, if I see $5.00+ tacos (etc) becoming the norm in this city, it will be a disservice to all. Or selling a Smoked meat sandwich for more than the best deli's do. Where they charge a fair price, yet have much higher operation costs than a food truck.

In any case. The topic at hand is the event. I know the event will go over well. I just wish this city would actual get a real night market on a regular basis. Maybe most posting in this thread are just disappointed they are not. And the title got them excited.

What the fuck are YOU and everybody else on about being 'entitled' to eat street food 'just because'?

Myself, I'd be going to this, paying the $50.00, and enjoying myself despite all of the hate.

Just to clarify this situation - All of the vendors, chefs and designers are donating their time, food and labour to this event. They are not getting any profit from this whatsoever. All proceeds go back to The Stop. While the $50 ticket might seem like a lot, really, when you think about what it is going towards (charity + food + drink), it's not really that much. There is no "entry fee" - $50 is your ticket to everything the market can offer. All of the companies and people involved in this event have generously donated a lot of time and money to making this happen, so the city can enjoy something different, while engaging a space that is often left overlooked and underused.

Remember, this is a fundraiser with a purpose to raise money - not an open market where all vendors to sell and profit from whatever they want. If $50 is too expensive for most, then you most likely have never been to any of the restaurants participating in the event!

Also, for courtesy and the betterment of public information, if you're going to criticize, at least get your facts straight. It's not doing anyone any better to argue with information that has been completely fabricated.

Who knows how it will go? It could really be the best food event Toronto's had yet.

Happy food-ing, everyone.

Just saw this and I guess there weren't a lot of tickets because it's sold out. I know it's kind of expensive but I would have gone because it is a good cause and it's a cool idea. Too bad!!

KJ props to you for clarifying what this event is all about!

This is going to be a fantastic event. Why should it be free? Do you think the participating restaurants get free food from their suppliers? No, it does not work that way.
If the restaurants get donated food that is fantastic, but it takes a ton of labour to pull off this sort of event, and most volunteer.... Sometimes you have to pay for the privilage to attend these events. These events are volunteer driven! Most of the proceeds, if not all, go to The Stop, a wonderful organization. For more informatio...
www.thestop.org

Those who end up going, please take pictures and share your experience with us!

seems to me there are only a few things to complain about an event like this:

1. douchebag hipster attendees.
2. missappropriation of term "Night Market".
3. price.

You can't slag the cause, though.

It's not about the cause or that it's for charity. So what if it's for charity - irrelevant to the majority of comments here. No one is attacking STOP or it's mandate. However, being a charitable event does not make it holy, and above comment.

I hope that they have some ethnic style food.

I love takoyaki!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDWSNOlC-Rc&;feature=plcp

Oh AND - at the end of the event, the carts will be sold, and the money will also be donated, so STOP HATING.

One word : awesome

Well organized event, awesome food, drinks, art (the booths), friendly staff and volunteers. Would highly recommend next time. Really unique atmosphere. Sure there were lines but nothing crazy and still plenty of food/drink

Use another name. Night Market is not correct. Read the comments before hiding behind the stupid charity get out of jail card.