Night It Up! 2011: A night in photos

This Friday, I had the opportunity to go to Night It Up! 2011. In its tenth year, Night It Up! is a two-day long festival that features Asian food and local performers. Below you’ll find some photos that were taken around the venue last night. If you’re interested in attending, the event is on tonight in Markham at the Markham Civic Centre. Enjoy!

Night It Up! is organized and presented by Power Unit Youth Organization, a youth-driven non-profit organization based in Toronto, striving to promote youth development and empowerment through philanthropy.

The main stage banner at Night It Up! 2011

This was the first time that I’d been to a night market. I saw some really unique things…like a man dissecting pineapples with a power drill.

This will only hurt for a second.

One of the things that made Night It Up! so unique was the night market vendor-style. I guess it’s not all that different from the North American flea market. That is, until you see (or smell, more likely) Wei’s Smelly Tofu.

Turns out the offending smell wasn't my feet.

Wei’s Smelly Tofu made me thankful for experiencing a particularly strong bout of allergies after walking through a field to get to the night market. But, despite a congested nose, the tofu that was being served up (which I know for a fact tastes a billion times better than it smells) made it to my olfactory senses. The smell is similar to sport socks that have been used heavily but gone unwashed for many days.

Of the vendors that I encountered last night, I’d have to say that the best dressed cooks were to be found at the Oyster Omelet tent.

We found Princess Leia.

No, that’s not Princess Leia, but the oyster omelets smelled pretty good.

We also saw squid on the grill.

...and Malaysian food...

...and takoyaki being prepared...

...and takoyaki being cooked.

And yes, there was also bubble tea.

After checking out the food stands, there was much more to be seen in terms of what Asian night markets are known for. Things like…

...fish for sale...

...and the Fishing Game - the way this works is, you try to catch a gold fish from a kiddie pool with a net made of tissue paper. If you catch a fish before the tissue paper net dissolves, you win a prize. And a fish, I think.

Should also mention that Night It Up! is a family event, as seen by the amount of parents who had their children in tow at every vendor.

We also saw entire tables of toys and electronic accessories made overseas.

To round the night off, we watched BananaLoft's very own Christy Luo and the PUYO Rockband perform their rendition of Rebecca Black's "Friday". While that was entertaining, what was more entertaining...

...was when Mayor Frank Scarpitti jumped up on stage and started singing too. How awesome is it to see a local dignitary so involved in a community event?

All things considered, Night It Up! 2011 was a kickass event that brought together a range of Asian cultures, and really showed off Canada's diverse cultural offering. If you plan on going, Night It Up! is still on for tonight!

To view the full set of images, visit my flickr photostream: http://bit.ly/quy7E5

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