Two interesting markets take place on Fridays in the Lower Mainland. One is Vancouver’s Mercato Italian Market and the other is the Shipyard Night Market.
Friday Markets in Metro Vancouver
There are two main markets that take place on Fridays – the Mercato Italian Market in Vancouver and the Shipyard Night Market in North Vancouver. In addition to these, however, there is also the Asian-themed Richmond Night Market. It takes place on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in the summer.
The Mercato Italian Market used to take place once a month on a Friday from June until August and then again in November. As of 2019, however, it only happens once in June and then again in November. As its name suggests, it has an Italian theme.
The Shipyard Night Market, meanwhile, takes place weekly on the North Shore and is like a farmers market on steroids – complete with beer garden, live concerts, dozens of food trucks and huge crowds on busy nights. It’s awesome and one of our favourites.
Mercato Italian Market
In 2019, the Mercato Italian Market occurred both indoors and outdoors on Friday, June 15th.
The market is also open one more time, indoors and with a Christmas theme, each year in November. In 2019 the Italian Christmas market took place on November 29th. It did not take place in 2020 and it doesn’t appear to have happened in 2021 either. 2022 details are to be confirmed but it doesn’t look like it’ll happen this year either.
On the above days the market took place from 4:30 pm until 9:30 pm at 3075 Slocan Street. Typical items for sale include artisan products, food and imported goods from Italy. About four dozen or so vendors typically participate.
Click Mercato Italian Market for further details.
Shipyard Night Market
The Shipyard Night Market takes place at Shipbuilders’ Square near Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. Its address is 138 Victory Ship Way which is near the bottom of Lonsdale Avenue.
The North Vancouver market includes farmers’ market-type stalls selling everything from fresh produce and homemade baked goods and preserves. As mentioned above, it also has a beer garden, plus a wide selection of food trucks and great live music.
If you like farmers markets and live music and don’t mind crowds, then the Shipyard Night Market is highly recommended.
Most years the Shipyard Night Market runs from the first Friday in May until the end of September. However, it did not run in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID-19. The market doesn’t look likely to return in 2022 either.
Click Shipyard Night Market for more information.
Other Farmers Markets on Different Days
For an extensive list of farmers markets in other parts of the Lower Mainland throughout the week, check out Metro Vancouver’s Farmers Markets. Or, for farmers markets on specific days, check out the following:
- Wednesday Farmers Markets: Downtown, Main Street and Whistler.
- Thursday Farmers Markets: False Creek, New Westminster and Granville Island.
- Saturday Farmers Markets: Abbotsford, Burnaby, Fort Langley, Maple Ridge, Squamish, Surrey, Trout Lake and the West End.
- Sunday Farmers Markets: Ambleside, Clayton Heights, Cloverdale (Flea Market), Coquitlam, Kitsilano, Ladner (bi-weekly), Mt. Pleasant, Steveston Village, White Rock and Whistler.
Also, check out Lower Mainland Winter Markets for farmers markets taking place in the late fall, winter and early spring.
Weekend Night Markets
In addition to the above two night markets with farmers’ market themes, an additional night market on Friday evenings in the summer is the Richmond Night Market which is very interesting, but definitely not a farmers’ market.
At the Richmond market, instead of rows of stalls selling fresh produce, homemade jams and handmade jewellery, expect tasty Asian smells, Asian music and stuff made overseas. The Richmond venue too is amazing, but in its own way.
