Night market debuts in Plymouth-Exchange neighborhood

Lex Page knows how to bring a community together. As an artist and owner of the small furniture business Midcentury585, it’s not only her gift but also a priority. 

So, when her neighbors at the Refinery moved out and left Page with room to expand, it sparked the idea for a night market.

Located in the Plymouth-Exchange neighborhood, directly across from the former Vacuum Oil facility, the Refinery warehouse space is home to artists like Shawn Dunwoody, community groups, nonprofit leaders, and small-business owners.

For Page, the space houses both Midcentury585 and her most recent brainchild: the Exchange, an open-air, newly renovated event space and location for a night market, an inspiration drawn from Asian night markets. 

Currently, the market features 26 local vendors from Rochester and Upstate New York, including chocolatiers, bookstores, and artists. Page hopes to welcome more to both its indoor and outdoor spaces. Beyond the stands set up inside, the market also sports food trucks and live music outside in the parking lot, as well as open hours at the nearby Greenovation second-hand store. 

“We want to create a great community space for small businesses and artists to come together and to create something fun for Rochester and for the community,” she says.

Vendors pay a base fee of $50 to participate at each market. Page keeps the price low to ensure the rate is universally accessible, and she hopes to create a lineup of both repeating and rotating booths. 

“I want to have a little bit of something for everybody,” she says. “We just want to give everyone a chance.”

Open every other Tuesday evening, the Rochester Night Market at the Exchange began July 1 and plans a season that will run until late October. It will then transition to a fully indoor space for the winter. 

For some vendors, the Night Market has been their first opportunity to introduce their business to the community. 

Joel Rudnick, sales manager and owner of Bread & Butter Bakery, a local wholesaler, recalls seeing signs inviting vendors to the market in the Refinery after his business moved in a few months ago. Bread & Butter decided to tag along, and to great success—its booth’s wares almost sold out by the end of the first Tuesday evening on June 17.

Most of Bread & Butter’s time at the Refinery so far has been dedicated to setting up operations; the breads at its booth on opening night reflected some of its first batches. 

The Blazing Boyz, a duo of local artists and vendors at Greenovation, also participated as first-time tablers. Their work, a collection of colorful jewelry, pronoun pins, and creature-like sculptures of “little guys,” is not only their passion but also a reflection of their queer resistance and joy.

“We live in very scary times, and seeing queer art right now makes a difference,” says Samson Weinberg, known colloquially as “traveler.” “When you see somebody walking past the table and go like, ‘Oh, there’s something that might actually be for me,’ it’s a heartwarming moment. Queer art, and aggressively so.”

Weinberg has seen many familiar faces at the market and is eager to return in future weeks. 

With over 2,000 interested individuals on Facebook and a busy night from start to finish, Page’s Night Market has gone beyond her expectations, she says. Now, she walks around the market with a laptop in hand, signing up vendors for future markets and solidifying bookings for the summer. 

As for the Exchange itself, Page is eager to get the space up and running for wider use and is excited about hosting future events. 

“I can honestly now envision this as an event space, so hopefully Lex can bump that up,” says Rudnick.

The Rochester Night Market will run every other Tuesday until Oct. 28 at the Exchange, 18 Flint St., from 6 to 10 p.m. See details on Instagram and Facebook. 

Alex Holly is a member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort. 

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