'Disco's and Decades': Spokane's Night Market brings eclectic and retro experience to Sprague Union District

Between the bumping music, the abundance of bell bottoms, and wide array of artists and vendors, Spokane's monthly themed night market and street fair brings an eclectic experience to the Sprague Union District.

This month's theme is "Disco's and Decades," so event organizer, Alena Horowitz, advises to dress appropriately. Or in this case, as wild and retro as possible. Whether it's the high-waisted mom jeans popular in the '90s or the go-go boots of the '60s, Horowitz believes everyone should feel free to express themselves this Friday.

More than 50 vendors will set up shop in the parking lot outside of the Catalyst Building, 508 E. Riverside Ave., from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday. The entry fee is $5 for people over 18 years old but free for kids.

"We have 10 food vendors," Horowitz said. "We have a cocktail bar, a local brewery. We have somebody doing on-the-spot T-shirt, beanie, sweatshirt pressing, so you can custom design. We have somebody doing live painting. We have a vintage photo booth inside of a vintage bus."

And that's just a few of the vendors on the list.

Other booths sell jewelry, ceramics, candles and flower boxes, potted plants and clothes. Horowitz has a booth called the Wavy Bunch that sells colorful, expressive, bold prints made from upcycled materials. She referred to the clothes they sell as "festival fashion," but said they can be worn "for all sorts of things."

"We also have an animal rescue coming," Horowitz said. "They have adoptable pets and free puppy and kitten snuggles on site."

Spool Effect, a band from Bonner's Ferry, will perform for all four hours of the night market. Horowitz described their music as a "jammy kind of psychedelic funk rock."

"It's more of like a Portland vibe," Horowitz said, of the night market. "It's really eclectic. You'll never see similar vendors there."

Artist Brandon Douglass is the only vendor who's been at the night market all six years of its existence. Three years ago, the market changed locations from a parking lot outside of Trader Joe's in Coeur d'Alene to its current location east of downtown Spokane.

Douglass, 48, said that while he has numerous artistic styles, his "Impossible City" work is where his heart rests. He said "Impossible City" is a new take on the work of Dutch graphic artist Maurits Cornelis Escher, more commonly known as M.C. Escher.

By toying and blending perspective, geometry, architecture, and tessellations (a repeating pattern of shapes void of overlaps or gaps), Douglass creates mind-bending, surreal cityscapes.

"I would describe it as work that could not exist without a fundamental knowledge of mathematics and geometry," Douglass said. "My dad was a physics teacher, so I have a math bug in me too ... How can you make an impossible structure look real by using two dimensions?"

Douglass, who works as a warehouse manager at the plumbing company Bulldog Rooter, said his most expensive art piece, apart from the originals, go for less than $100 each and are 18 by 24 inches. He also has 5-by-7- inch prints for $10 and numerous hats, lighters and treasure boxes. In total, he and his wife sell 80 different prints at their booth.

"As far as the night market, it's just a great fun time to take your family on a Friday night," Douglass said. "Our community has become so different in the last decade or so, and you don't see a lot of this kind of stuff anymore. This is how we keep our communities safe and thriving by getting out there and doing things and bringing people out together."

Hibra Tseguy is whipping up all the stews she can before she sets up her Ethiopian food tent on Friday.

Tseguy said they'll have beef, chicken, lentil and split pea stew on Friday. Ethiopian iced tea, which she said is similar to chai, is also being served alongside basil bread and baklava.

Tseguy moved to Spokane from California in 2019 because of how unaffordable the Golden State was for her and her family. A few years after arriving in Spokane, she opened Amen Ethiopian Cafe on the second-floor food court of the Spokane Valley Mall.

"Food is a universal language, you know," Tseguy said. "So, whether they ate it before or they just tried it for the first time, it's beautiful" to see their reaction.

A mother to five, Tseguy said her operation is all family run. She chose to start serving food as a pop-up because she saw it as another way to connect with her community and let Spokanites try something they might not have tasted before.

"The Perry Street (market), you see kids a lot," Tseguy said. "The family comes to feed their kids. This one is for everybody."

Horowitz stressed that their night market is family friendly. They have plenty of activities for kids, like face painting, and have a roving security team patrolling the property.

For the folks hoping to tune in to their spiritual side, Horowitz said they have tarot card reading, energy healers, dream interpretations and more.

Krystelle Brice, one of three members of the Third Eye Collective, will offer divine guidance Friday for those who seek it.

"We do intuitive readings," Brice said. "We use tarot and oracle, we also do pendulums."

Brice said the warm summer nights during night market season are her favorite time of year. After going to the Spokane Night Market and Street Fair for the last five years, Brice said it's not just the tasty food and great music that makes the event special, but also the bonds she's formed with the those running other booths.

"We have a lady who sells earrings on our left, and then on our right is always a random booth," Brice said. "Then on the right side of that booth is always CdA Soap Co., and we've been doing that for as long as we've been at the Riverside location. So it's just the vendors all know each other, we all have a camaraderie."

Brice said she's embracing her "inner '90s child" and will dress up in that style on Friday.

On average, about 1,500 people visit the Spokane Night Market and Street Fair each month from May to October, Horowitz said. If you can't make it to the market this Friday, the next one is July 10.

"I don't know if I would have considered event planning to be artistic before I started doing it," Horowitz said. "But actually one of the other vendors described it to me really perfectly. I was like, 'It feels so inspiring and artistic,' and he said 'Well, yeah, that's because you're designing community.' "

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This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 7:06 PM.