As the semester winds to a close for UT students, it is once again time for the Knox Asian American and Pacific Islander Night Market.

The event will be hosted from 6-9 p.m. at Hi-Wire Brewing, with a wide assortment of food, crafts and culture to be had all around.

The event first started in the spring of 2023 and has since become an anticipated event in the Knoxville community. Jessica Carr, owner of Girls Gotta Eat Good, hosted the first night market. Carr’s Bakery serves as Knoxville’s first Asian-owned bakery. She will be returning as a vendor for this event, where her booth will be selling pork belly adobo, ube crinkle cookies, ube cheesecake brownies and more.

Carr’s ube treats tend to be her most popular, and her personal favorite product is her ube crinkle cookies.

“Ube is a Filipino purple yam,” Carr wrote in an email statement. “It has a nutty vanilla flavor and pairs really well with the powdered sugar on the cookie.”

This market is part of Carr’s goal to share her heritage with her community.

“I really wanted to share my Filipino culture with the people of Knoxville, and I noticed that there was a need for Asian baked goods here,” Carr wrote in an email statement. “It was hard to get people to try something new, but I kept at it.”

Her business originally started as a food blog, and now she vends at pop-ups around the city. Her goods can also be found in local businesses around Knoxville, like Capybara Coffee.

Through the night market, Carr co-founded the Knox AAPI Business Association. The goal in doing so is to provide Knox-area Asian-owned small businesses with free resources.

“I love organizing the Asian Night Market because I get to connect with other members of the Asian small business community in Knoxville,” Carr wrote in an email statement. “It’s a way for all of us to come together and celebrate our cultures and share that with the people of Knoxville.”

This year’s night market will also have some new vendors in the lineup, including Hannah Wang, who runs Nana Nails. She started her business just this June, selling handmade and reusable press-on nails.

“As an avid nail art lover and someone with a very busy schedule, I find that good press-on nails offer you the same quality you want from a fresh manicure set, but with minimal time and price to get it,” Wang wrote in an email statement. “The common myth is that press-ons pop off easily and do not last, but with the correct application procedure, your set can stay on for more than two weeks.”

While this will be her first appearance at a Knox Asian Night Market, she has been helping out at her family’s booth, GraceCake US, at previous markets. She enjoys the social aspect of the market, getting to interact with other small businesses in her community, as well as friends of hers who also have their own booths.

“I love how the event brings together some amazing AAPI businesses in our community,” Wang wrote in an email statement. “I love meeting new people, and running a pop-up business gives me the opportunity to meet all walks of life.”

She’ll have a limited selection of her most recent press-on nails for sale at the night market, which are K-pop themed.

“They are inspired by K-pop groups’ animal character series like SKZOO and ANITEEZ,” Wang wrote in an email statement.

More of her nails can also be found at Ploghvey Kpop, located on Kingston Pike.

Running her business takes lots of patience, but Wang is grateful to have the support of her community. She hopes the Night Market can bring more AAPI resources to the people of Knoxville.

“While Knoxville is rapidly growing, the city still lacks when it comes to AAPI resources,” Wang wrote in an email statement. “With more events like the Knox AAPI Night Market, Asian-owned businesses will get the chance to showcase their brand, and eventually lead to more opportunities that may pop up in the future.”

Both Carr and Wang encourage attendees to come hungry, as there will be over 20 food and craft vendors at the event. If you are curious to learn more about the Knox AAPI Business Association, you can visit their Instagram page. You can also find both Girls Gotta Eat Good and Nana Nails on socials as well.

“I think it’s very important to uplift marginalized voices in our community,” Carr wrote in an email statement. “Most of these businesses rely on events like these to keep them open and financially stable during the slower sales months. We do this to give them exposure and sales so that their businesses can thrive and succeed.”