SF’s Sunset Night Market Won’t Happen This Summer. Is Local Politics to Blame?

Although news that the Sunset Night Market in San Francisco will not take place this summer spurred reports and speculation that it was a victim of political strife in the Sunset District, organizers and city officials are blaming funding disputes instead.

Community partners who organized the market said the city did not issue reimbursements for last year’s event until May, which frustrated organizers who fronted initial expenses. Meanwhile, the unexpected popularity of last year’s market also overwhelmed organizers and local merchants, and highlighted the need for further planning, they added.

“There’s a lot of pieces to the puzzle that need to come into place before you launch an event,” said Angie Petitt, founder and owner of Sunset Mercantile. “There’s a lot to iron out before we can relaunch it, and it have a positive impact on the community.”

Petitt said the event is not canceled and added that organizers are in the process of working with the Office of Employment and Workforce Development to figure out a different date and night market set-up that works better for the area. It’s just on pause, she said.

Before its launch in 2023, the Sunset Night Market on Irving Street was expected to be a three-block community event featuring a few merchants and no more than 2,000 visitors. It quickly grew into a behemoth — last year’s market drew more than 10,000 attendees and featured over 100 food and retail vendors spread across seven blocks in the Outer Sunset.

“It’s a community event that we’ve been trying to grow organically, and it kind of became bigger and a little more unwieldy than we expected,” Petitt said.

Community partners, including Sunset Mercantile and the Sunset Chinese Cultural District, secured a grant from the city last year, amounting to $120,000, to put on the night market. The funds have since been fully disbursed, according to the Office of Employment and Workforce Development.

A spokesperson for the department said delays in reimbursement were caused by issues with the paperwork and the office’s severe staffing shortage. With the summer night market on pause, the city is now in conversation with local partners to figure out alternative events for later this year, and $100,000 has been allocated for future activation.

“After the last night market in September 2024, the Sunset Night Market Collaborative wanted to learn from the previous events and improve and enhance any future night markets for our Sunset community,” said Lily Wong, director of the Sunset Chinese Cultural District. “We are working with OEWD to create a night market more in scale with our community, and something the Sunset can be proud to have.”

Jennifer Leung, co-owner of Pineapple King Bakery, said she was disappointed to hear that the night market had been postponed. Although she had heard some complaints about increased traffic and noise last year, Leung said the event brought more business to her bakery and was a “vibrant” addition to the community.

“It was a win-win for small businesses, as well as for people who attended it,” she said. “People are really happy when they are shopping around, enjoying different types of food. You could get barbecue, dumplings, fresh-pressed sugarcane juice. It’s also very diverse, and what San Francisco is about.”

Leung said she hopes the night market comes back to the Sunset soon, with even more local businesses featured.

The loss of this summer’s Sunset Night Market comes as one of its major proponents, San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio, faces a wave of political backlash.

Some residents have speculated that the event was called off because of ongoing tension between Engardio and community members calling for his recall, according to a report by the San Francisco Standard.

Engardio shared that article on social media on Thursday, saying the night market was “gone — not because of lack of interest, but because the recall campaign poisoned local politics.” His office did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

The campaign to oust Engardio began earlier this year after he sponsored a proposition that led to the closure of part of the Great Highway and its conversion to the Sunset Dunes park. The recall petition garnered thousands of signatures, and a special election for District 4 voters is scheduled for September.

Albert Chow, a vocal recall supporter and owner of Great Wall Hardware, previously told the Standard that local businesses had turned away from the night market because of frustrations with Engardio’s leadership. When KQED reached him for comment, he said he did not believe the recall campaign or its supporters were responsible for the event’s postponement, and called it a matter of funding.

“[The recall] has nothing to do … with the night market. The night market was a great success and we advocated for it heavily,” Chow said. “The coffers were empty to fund the night market this year, and that is what happened. It wasn’t because of sabotage or subterfuge. It was simply because of bureaucracy.”

KQED’s Juan Carlos Lara contributed to this report.