By Tommy Cha
The Night Market has come back! The Ethnic Student Center hosted their second annual Night Market on Saturday, May 19. This time around, the Night Market took place in Red Square rather than the Old Main Lawn from last year. The Ethnic Student Center gathered up most of their 17seventeen clubs to participate in the event. The purpose of this event was to give students of color the opportunity to build a community, share a space, and spread their cultures to one another. Along with sharing a space, the event also promoted awareness to the public.
The Night Market had many ways to show off their culture. Many clubs fundraised by selling their cultural foods and other items that would represent them. ACC (African Caribbean Club) served a popular pineapple drink that is well-known in the Carib region. It was a very delightful and refreshing drink that works well in the hot sun! VSA (Vietnamese Student Association) sold a cultural dessert called “che thai.”. “Che thai” is a type of dessert that many Southeast Asian cultures are used to eating. It is a cool, sweet soup or pudding that contains a variety of many things: tapioca, mung beans, jelly, fruit, and coconut cream. It comes in many different ways depending on which culture you would eat it from.
There was also a clothing vendor with the brand named “State of Bliss”, being sold at the Market. Based out of Bellingham, the style of clothes being offered from this small company connects the outdoors with the streets, making it a mixture of nature and city life. They offer a very unique design that can never get out of style. You can check out their website here: https://stateofblisspnw.com/
At the event, performances were showed off from the different cultures here at Western. People performed with dance and some with singing. This goes to show how Western is still building to become more diverse. Although the population regarding students of color here at Western is relatively low, the campus is still growing each year as the Ethnic Student Center will be moving in to the Multicultural Center in the future. In the meantime, the Ethnic Student Center will continue to provide a community for students of color and host events to bring awareness to other cultures and ethnicities represented at Western.
If you want to find out more about the Night Market or the Ethnic Student Center, you can find their contact list here: http://as.wwu.edu/esc/staff/ or visit the Ethnic Student Center in VU420!
Videos of the event will also be provided by the Ethnic Student Center at a later time.