Paheja Siririka
WINDHOEK – The Windhoek Pop-Up Market recently hosted an Asian Night-themed event showcasing Asian cuisines and attires.
At the entrance, one could see black and orange balloons before entering the venue. A warm welcome and greeting by Candy, Ileni and Sweety, in their Japanese kimonos, awaited guests for purchasing tickets at the entrance.
Once in the venue, it was a totally different atmosphere with more colourful balloons, paper lanterns hanging in the air or sky lanterns, as some would call them, food stalls, clothing stalls, hookah/shisha parlours – a real feel of the Asian environment. This was the organisers’ first themed market, according to Willem Kapenda, one of the organisers.
“Pop-Up is known for festivals, so the crew and I decided to try something different which attracts a more matured crowd,” said Kapenda.
The matured crowd element was because most of the concert goers are young people, “that’s why the aim was to bring the adults into the pop-up family market,” explained Kapenda.
“How the Asian Night came about was due to the fact that most people love Asian food, so we decided on at least having something 80 percent Asian and the rest came from the locals,” he said.
Kapenda said as much as the event was Asian themed, it catered to all.
“We wanted to celebrate Asian people because they are also part of Namibia,” said the enthusiastic Kapenda.
In terms of performances, no local artists were part of the line-up apart from the local in-house DJ; the performances were all Asian centred. With the breathtaking weather accompanied by showers that poured on the day, the pop-up market attracted more than 20 exhibitors including the Garnish Restaurant and Little India Restaurant.
Some well-known local exhibitors were the vintage collection of House of Clara by Clara Antunes, House of Poulton by Melisa Poulton, Henny Hunnay by Shancy, the ever popular Dolce & Kapana, Wing It Diner and many more. The advantage of this event to any business owner was that stalls were not charged for. “We wanted people to come together and have a good time with their loved ones,” emphasised Kapenda. “From now on, we are going to have such events leading up to the main event, which is the Windhoek Pop-Up Festival,” emphasised Kapenda.
Furthermore, the events are aimed at bringing small and medium enterprises together and for business owners to market their products. “We are not really doing it for the money,” he stressed.
Kapenda said the next Windhoek Pop-Up Market will be happening on May 11, 2019.