A block of Northwest Davis Street in Old Town Chinatown turned into a Halloween night market Saturday, with nearly 30 vendors selling handmade goods, art and Asian-inspired food and drink from 2 to 10 p.m. A costume contest with cash prizes, a DJ and live performers rounded out the evening in a neighborhood that has spent years fighting empty storefronts and declining foot traffic.
The event was organized by the Old Town Community Association, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive, which reported that organizers hope to turn the block between Northwest Third and Fourth avenues into a recurring destination. Lori Wiechec, the association's executive director, said regular foot traffic would benefit small and micro businesses in the area and that the market aims to bring positive activation to the neighborhood. A separate writeup from PDX Pipeline noted the costume contest started at 6 p.m., with a $100 cash prize for the winner and $50 for the runner-up.
Street Built for This Exact Moment
Northwest Davis and Flanders streets were reconstructed two decades ago as one-block, curbless festival streets, designed to close easily for festivals and function as public squares, per the Oregonian/OregonLive report. The streets already occasionally host Chinese New Year and other Asian cultural celebrations, making them a natural fit for a recurring market. Tommy Ly, who owns GeekEasy Anime Café and helped organize the night market, said Old Town Chinatown is neglected and that he wants to help bring it back — pointing to neighbors like Kasbah Moroccan Café, Golden Horse Seafood Restaurant and Old Town Pizza & Brewing as the kind of businesses worth supporting.
A holiday night market is planned for Dec. 5, with the Oregonian/OregonLive reporting that more events are expected to follow next year. PDX Pipeline reported that the Halloween event is the first of a two-event pilot, with the two holiday markets produced by the Old Town Community Association in partnership with Ly's GeekEasy Anime Cafe, which manages vendors. City Council Vice President Olivia Clark has already committed $20,000 from her office budget to the association to fund 10 additional markets throughout 2027, according to the same Oregonian/OregonLive report, which notes the money will cover security services, portable sanitation, lighting, barricades and street closure.
Funding and a Public-Safety Pitch
The two pilot markets received a Prosper Portland grant of $1,500 per market, the outlet reported, with Trailhead Credit Union contributing another $700 per market for decorations. PDX Pipeline, however, described the funding differently, reporting a $3,000 Uniquely Portland grant from Prosper Portland's Portland Events and Film Office and $1,500 from Old Town Bank Trailhead Credit Union — figures that don't match the Oregonian/OregonLive's numbers. Local businesses and neighbors also provided in-kind support, according to the Oregonian/OregonLive account.
Jimmy Radosta, a spokesperson for Clark's office, said the night market aims to address public safety issues in Old Town and that a lit, staffed, occupied street can provide a safety intervention. An Old Town Community Association survey found that businesses in the area were concerned about out-of-pocket security costs, and the night market is included in the broader Old Town Action Plan. Old Town Chinatown has long dealt with persistent homelessness, drug use and crime, per the Oregonian/OregonLive report, and the historic 10-block district now has just two Chinese restaurants remaining.
A Neighborhood Trying Several Fixes at Once
The night market is one of several efforts aimed at Old Town's vacancy problem. Portland's central city had a combined office and retail vacancy rate of 39% in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to OPB, which also reported that a separate pilot called No Vacancy — launched by Prosper Portland and the Old Town Community Association in early 2025 — had three businesses with signed leases and four more negotiating by the end of that year, though none had actually opened their doors by mid-January.
Foot traffic has been inching back, even if it remains well below pre-pandemic levels. Downtown Portland's Clean and Safe District counted roughly 32 million pedestrian visits in 2025, up from 30 million in 2024, according to Downtown Portland Clean & Safe, with year-over-year growth in 18 of the prior 20 months and Saturdays reaching 88.6% of 2019 volumes. That 32 million figure still trails the 43 million pedestrians downtown saw in 2019, as the Oregonian/OregonLive's retail desk reported separately.
Old Town's grocery gap is also getting attention. The neighborhood lacks a dedicated grocer beyond a handful of convenience marts, and the 1st & Nourish Market is tentatively slated to open a 4,000-square-foot grocery store early next year inside the Nourish Building, which is also planned to include coworking spaces, classrooms, a coffee shop and a local book retailer, per the Oregonian/OregonLive's retail coverage. The grocery is expected to sell fresh produce, dairy, dry goods and frozen meals prepared in the Feed the Mass kitchen.
Old Town Has Tried This Before
This isn't the neighborhood's first attempt at a recurring market. Old Town organizers experimented with an outdoor summer market in 2021 that never became a lasting fixture, according to the Oregonian/OregonLive. A separate effort described by KATU saw the Old Town Community Association partner with the Portland Bureau of Transportation to close streets for a biweekly summer market that grew from just a few vendors into an event filling multiple blocks.
The Portland Saturday Market has operated nearby since 1974, though it is mostly concentrated on the waterfront rather than deeper in Old Town Chinatown. Farther east, the Jade International Night Market, founded in 2014 in outer Southeast Portland, has grown from an opening event that drew 6,000 people against a goal of a few hundred into an annual draw of roughly 20,000 attendees. Organizers of the Davis Street market are hoping for a similar trajectory, even as they lean on the neighborhood's own cultural anchors — including the Lan Su Chinese Garden, the Portland Chinatown Museum and the Japanese American Museum of Oregon — to pull people back to the block.
Saturday's event also coincided with a free MF DOOM tribute show elsewhere in Old Town over the holiday weekend, featuring work from more than 10 artists along with installations, music and limited-edition merchandise, according to PDX Pipeline's event listing. For organizers like Ly, the test now is whether a single festive night can translate into the steady, year-round presence Old Town Chinatown has been chasing for years.
