Downtown Anchorage will host a new weekly outdoor market and beer garden

Alex DeMarban, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska
·2 min read

Jul. 16—A Sunday outdoor market will launch in downtown Anchorage this weekend with live music, a beer garden and several craft and food vendors.

The ANC Market Social will run through Sept. 26. It's an initiative to bring more traffic to downtown businesses and more activity to the area, said Mirna Estrada, a spokeswoman with the Anchorage Downtown Partnership. ADP is sponsoring the event in partnership with the Alaska Small Business Development Center's BuyAlaska program.

The new market is popping up after the long-running Anchorage Market relocated from downtown to the parking lot of the Dimond Center mall in South Anchorage, amid a drop in business related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new Sunday market will be smaller than the Anchorage Market, which once featured hundreds of vendors at Third Avenue and E Street.

More than 20 businesses and vendors so far plan to participate in ANC Market Social, and the partnership is looking for more vendors, Estrada said.

The market will be located on E Street just east of Town Square Park. The street will be closed for the event, which will run Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The market will feature Alaskan-made and grown products, she said.

"We spent months looking for the coolest, cutest products we could find from local vendors and markets," Estrada said.

Humpy's Great Alaskan Alehouse will host the beer garden, and The Kobuk cafe and gift shop will serve mimosas on its property, Estrada said.

This Sunday, the Vintage Retro band will perform classic rock, funk and other music

"ANC Market Social is an exciting opportunity to support Anchorage's vibrant locally-owned businesses, local makers and artists," said Amanda Moser, executive director of the Anchorage Downtown Partnership, in a prepared statement.

Participating vendors and businesses so far include several artisan jewelers, print makers, cannabis dispensary Tundra Herb, the Gelatte gelato shop, Pangea Restaurant and Lounge, outdoor retailer 6th Avenue Outfitters and Flattop Pizza.

Businesses that want to participate can contact Crystal Caines with the downtown partnership at ccaines@anchoragedowntown.org or 907-279-5620.

Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify that Mirna Estrada, a spokeswoman with the Anchorage Downtown Partnership, said that the ANC Market Social is the partnership's initiative to bring more traffic to downtown businesses and more activity to the area. She did not speak directly about how the event's impact relates to the departure of a different downtown market.