[oqeygallery id=64 width=675 height=380]
Photos by Evie Carpenter and Jessica Zook
About 1,000 patrons flocked to the Phoenix Public Market Wednesday night for the second annual Phoenix Phoestivus Market, celebrating the holiday season with song, dance, food and shopping.
The event ran from 4:00 to 8:30, drawing old friends and new faces to the marketplace for a little “warmth of the season,” according to Cindy Gentry, the founder and executive director of Community Food Connections, the nonprofit that operates the Phoenix Public Market.
“It’s just energizing,” Gentry said. “It’s fabulous that so many people from the community are having a good time in the middle of downtown Phoenix, which is usually quiet around now.”
Alongside vendors and food trucks that frequently inhabit the marketplace, carolers performed holiday favorites for festival-goers. One group, the Mwamba Choir, performed both song and dance in traditional Ugandan style.
The choir, made up of Ugandan orphans, performed Christmas carols and other songs to the beat of drums. The singers danced and clapped to the music, bringing smiles to many audience members’ faces.
Also present at the festival were members of ASU’s Downtown Alive!, a club devoted to raising community-embeddedness on the Downtown campus. Members Vaughn Hillyard and Connor Descheemaker ran a stand where Phoenicians could air their grievances about downtown Phoenix and life in general.
Grievances ranging from Jan Brewer to people driving without headlights on were present, posted onto a board using Post-it notes.
The Phoestivus will continue next Wednesday, from 4:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Phoenix Public Market.
Contact the reporter at mauro.whiteman@asu.edu
