A popular night market in the Outer Sunset will not return this year amid blowback over the Great Highway’s closure.
The Sunset Night Market on Irving Street, which has drawn thousands since it launched two years ago, is not scheduled to return this summer, according to organizers and Supervisor Joel Engardio.
San Francisco’s notoriously ugly politics could be to blame.
Engardio, who spearheaded and helped secure city funding for the market, which was held in late August and late September last year, is facing a September recall election over his role in Proposition K, the ballot measure that permanently closed the Great Highway to cars and converted it into the park now known as Sunset Dunes.
Albert Chow, a supporter of the recall campaign and owner of Great Wall Hardware in the Sunset, said many in the business community have soured on the night market.
“[The merchants] just didn’t feel it this year,” Chow said. “Overall, there’s a sense that Engardio lacks leadership.”
Prop. K passed in November with more than 55% of the vote. But the measure was overwhelmingly rejected by voters in west-side neighborhoods such as the Richmond and Sunset, where more motorists relied on the highway.
Outrage over Engardio’s support for Prop. K came to a head in May, when the campaign to recall him submitted 10,523 valid signatures from voters in his district. A special election on the recall is set for Sept. 16.
That has made the night market politically radioactive and fueled speculation from Engardio supporters that recall proponents are intentionally scuttling the popular event to avoid handing the supervisor a win before the election.
Alice Liu, a Sunset resident and an Engardio supporter, said the night market has rebranded the otherwise sleepy neighborhood as a cool destination. She expressed anger at the recall campaign for disrupting the community and is asking the voters to vote against the recall.
“Losing the Sunset Night Market feels like a step backward,” said Liu. “It’s disappointing that a small group of angry people has caused so much chaos.”
Market organizers have proposed using a smaller portion of the event’s funding to support and expand a December tree-lighting festival, and floated the idea of using the remaining money to relaunch a scaled-back version of the night market during the Lunar New Year.
Last September, a smaller night market was held at the Great Highway in conjunction with the bigger Irving Street events. But it is unlikely to happen this year amid pushback from Ocean Beach merchants who have opposed all commercial activity in the area.
Engardio told The Standard the night market is expected to restart in early 2026.
“Politics should not be part of the night market. It’s about bringing people together and creating joy,” the supervisor said. “At the end of the day, most people say they love the night market.”
Over the last two years, the markets have drawn tens of thousands of visitors to food and art vendors lined up along seven blocks of Irving Street.
The markets have served as a way to highlight the Sunset’s rich Asian food and cultural scenes with events such as a durian-eating contest and an appearance last year by celebrity chef Martin Yan.
But politics have clouded the event. Engardio said some merchants and opponents of Prop. K threatened to boycott last year’s markets unless he withdrew his support for the measure.
Chow denied that recall supporters are plotting to kill the night market but accused Engardio of trying to take credit for it, saying it is a community-led initiative. Engardio countered that he has always emphasized his partnership with community groups.
The recall campaign against Engardio said the supervisor should blame himself for the cancellation of this year’s markets.
“This is just another failure by Supervisor Engardio,” Jamie Hughes, the campaign leader, told The Standard.
Lily Wong, lead organizer of the night market and director of the Sunset Chinese Cultural District, said more organizers wanted to scale back the event, which some contend has grown overwhelming since its 2023 start. She blamed San Francisco’s bureaucracy, noting that the 2024 city payments to event organizers didn’t arrive until this year, causing financial strain.
The city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development confirmed that it is reviewing the market’s current proposal and that $100,000 in funding is allocated to host the events. The agency also confirmed that last year’s funding, which amounted to $120,000, was disbursed in full by May.
Awadalla Awadalla, owner of Hole in the Wall Pizza on Irving Street and a prominent business leader in the Sunset, said it’s “very bad” that the night market is not coming back this year.
He pushed back on claims that business owners in the neighborhood aren’t interested in the market this year. Awadalla said the events put Irving Street “on the map” and drew people from across the city to the neighborhood.
“I felt betrayed,” Awadalla said. “I thought the night market was one of the best things to happen to the Sunset.”