Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, is a beautiful, quaint town in Idaho with iconic views, fresh water, ski mountains, wonderful restaurants and unmatched lake life. They’ve got it ALL when it comes to nature, but many residents feel there’s a gap when it comes to arts and entertainment. As an entrepreneur, always looking for ways to expand within myself and my community, I saw the budding opportunity to fill this gap through immersive events full of color, culture, creators, art, and live music.
The first NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair, hosted by THE WAVY BUNCH in 2021, was a “test” to see how the community would respond. We went with a “Superstitions” theme, leaning into the fact it was held on a Friday the 13th. Energy and enthusiasm from surrounding businesses, vendors, and musicians filled the air, with participants congregating (in costume) far before the official event even started. An hour in, as eclectic people of all ages poured in, I looked at my mother and celebrated, “We NEED to make this a monthly event!”
Getting together, relishing live music, discovering imaginative marketplaces, meeting local makers, supporting small businesses, and creating lasting memories with loved ones is food for the soul. It’s what we ALL NEED. 1,500- 2,000 wide-eyed individuals came through on the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair’s launching night.
After finding much success and community support during the first NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair event, we’ve now been presenting the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair six times per season, on the second Friday of each month from May through October. The NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair is an all-inclusive immersive-arts event, vendor faire, music festival and walkable art exhibit all wrapped into one.
Gaining traction and needing room for expansion, we moved the pop-up parking lot festival to Runge Furniture in midtown Coeur d’Alene. Each NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair event presents a unique theme—Galactic Shenanigans, Wizard of Oz, Myths & Legends, and 80s Neon, to name a few… with many more intriguing themes on the docket. Costumes are always encouraged at the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair, so you’ll want to make it to each & every event for a completely novel experience.
Mark your calendars for the 2023 NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair season!
2nd Fridays, May to October, 5-9 p.m.
-Friday, May 12?
-Friday, June 9
-Friday, July 14
-Friday, August 11
-Friday, September 8?
-Friday, October 13?
We’re constantly in awe of how many unique, amazing, and authentic visitors come through the NIGHT MARKET, purchasing from our friendly local vendors, dancing in the streets, photographing the event, and giving compliments and positive feedback to THE WAVY BUNCH team. Attendees have noted: “I’ve never seen anything like this in Spokane or Coeur d’Alene,” or “You guys turned a simple downtown parking lot into a legit festival,” and “The NIGHT MARKET is my family’s absolute favorite monthly activity!”
What merchants can you find at the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair? Crystals, custom clothing, vintage, wire-wrapped jewelry, apothecaries, body products, intuitive readers, energy healers, esoteric art, metal sculpture, handmade treasures, caricature portraits, face painting, performance art, band-merch, food trucks, coffee, fresh-pressed juice, cocktail bars, local craft beer, groovy décor, and MORE. Half of our vendors, businesses, musicians, and attendees hail from Spokane and the other half North Idaho locals.
For me, Alena Horowitz, THE WAVY BUNCH owner and event organizer, the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair has felt like a dream. Making my way around to all the vendors gives me full-body chills and renders me teary-eyed from all the appreciation, gratitude and excitement I receive across the board. I’m overjoyed witnessing the absolute stoke and splendor on the faces of attendees as they explore new artful territories, meet like-minded folk, and make solid connections within their community.
Adding the monthly Friday NIGHT MARKET to the list of activities and festivities taking place in our lovely town has felt like an important pinnacle in my career. I guess I’ve never really considered “event planning” to be a career in creative arts. However, pulling all these people together to gather really feels like the most creative activity I’ve ever accomplished! A vendor-friend summed it up nicely for me: “Alena, you’re a designer of community! That’s one of the most multifaceted and incredible things one could fathom creating!”
The success of the NIGHT MARKET has proven the concept—”Where energy goes, energy flows.” Presenting an event of this scale is not EASY, but life seems to SIMPLIFY when following the instinctual inspiration that guides us along our “right path.” Everyone involved puts their best foot forward, working hard to create, promote, and ensure each event is a hit. The NIGHT MARKET has blossomed into the perfect pairing of all sorts of incredible artisans, musicians jamming for the love of their craft, and the Coeur d’Alene and Spokane community members that stroll the streets, supporting small and local businesses with their hard-earned dollars.
Attendance of the NIGHT MARKET is based entirely on word-of-mouth. We’re living proof that “WORD IS POWER.” With 33 vendors, two bands, and fantastic fanatical attendees, we’ve been able to reach many new eyes through social networking. A super-positive thing social media has done for the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair is allowing us to connect with many regional people seamlessly. Sometimes, the entire week leading up to the NIGHT MARKET, it’s all you’ll see in local stories and posts. It takes a VILLAGE to create epic events, and everyone involved absolutely crushes it.
A grass-roots event with ZERO outside funding “sponsoring” the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair behind the scenes, our vendors’ booth payments are what allow us to create this cooperative of visionaries, making organizing these events a possibility. So much time, energy, effort, love, care and concentration go into planning the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair from ALL angles.
THE WAVY BUNCH, Horowitz, is eternally grateful to everyone that believed in our vision, trusted our creative process, and jumped on board with so much heart (before we even had any REAL event-planning experience — just a grand idea, lots of drive, and a fixation on fashioning a vibrant, economically-strong, entrepreneurial, flourishing, deep-feeling community).
We’re looking forward to our NIGHT MARKETS becoming a go-to-spot for community, music, makers, magic and talents. It’s obvious that citizens of Coeur d’Alene and Spokane are ready for immersive-art events like the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair. If you’re interested in vending, playing music or performing, get in touch with THE WAVY BUNCH at thewavybunch@outlook.com. We’re also now open to accepting sponsorships and partnerships, allowing us to accomplish even BIGGER things within our community.
People need to play, relax, dance, shop locally, get out, walk, create art, find community and converse! Collective events like the NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair are absolutely therapeutic. Everyone involved feels an immediate transformation in their minds and hearts. The NIGHT MARKET is a non-political, non-denominational event—a safe space where EVERYONE on ALL WALKS OF LIFE can feel welcome, whole and accepted.
Thank you, Coeur d’Alene and Spokane, for getting involved in the arts; for going out and supporting local makers, entrepreneurs, event-stewards and musicians; for all the love, light, wisdom and gratitude that’s been expressed; for bringing friends, families, kiddos, and leashed pets to peruse the immersive experience we’ve curated at the NIGHT MARKET; for showing up dressed in themed-costumes, with smiles all around, exuding ALL the good vibes; AND for spreading the word about the NIGHT MARKET with friends, relatives and acquaintances via word-of-mouth, personal invitations, and mentions on social media.
Welcome to our “Creative Village.” THE WAVY BUNCH is grateful and excited to have unbounded community support and enthusiasm while undertaking these events. We appreciate you!
Looking forward to seeing you ALL at the monthly summer NIGHT MARKET & Street Fair, 2nd Fridays from May through October.
