Jack's Night Market

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Jack London Square. All opinions are my own.

Summer is almost upon us. 

The kids only have a few more weeks left at school, the weather is starting to warm up, and the fun Summer events have started.

A few Fridays back the girls and I celebrated the imminent arrival of Summer at the first of many fun Summer events at Oakland's Jack London Square. Jack's Night Market is a fun monthly event held at Oakland's premier waterfront location over Summer. A mix of local artisan vendors, tasty food, music and quirky entertainment, Jack's Night Market has something for everyone. 

 

Jack's Night Markets are a fun evening out for the whole family. Kids will love the carnival entertainers that stroll around the markets. The stilt walking zebra and tiger were a huge hit with all the kids (even those who were a little scared at first, like Mathilde) as was the juggling clown and the balloon blowing mermaid in the fountain. My kids loved that they were able to try and juggle just like the clown - although he can rest assured they won't be taking his job anytime soon! Ha!

On a small stage by the waterfront break dancers kept market goers entertained throughout the evening - and had Lola trying her best to copy their moves!

The markets themselves offer an eclectic range of goods from local makers. Stalls selling jewelry, clothing, homewares, artisan foods, and plants nestle among the palm trees by Heinold's First & Last Chance Saloon.  

The kids were pretty hungry when we arrived at Jack London Square and were excited to find themselves standing by a gourmet corn dog stand. Corn dogs for dinner all round! We ate on the Marina Lawn where the girls had fun running around after devouring their corn dogs. Seriously, those corn dogs were good!

After our corn dog dinner we made our way back through the markets to check out the stalls and more of the fun on offer. We found a large area covered in chalk drawings so the kids grabbed a few pieces of chalk each and added their own drawings. Or, in Mathilde's case, grabbed all the chalk she could find and stuffed it under the stroller for safe keeping! She was not impressed when I put it back! Luckily, she was quickly distracted by the passing entertainers and forgot all about the chalk.

One of my favorite people at the markets was the lady wearing a dress covered in embroidery hoops and half finished embroidery designs. She took a seat outside and visitors sat around her to add their own contribution to her dress. I love this idea and so too did Ava and Lola who added their own stitches.

Summer may be almost here, but it was actually getting pretty chilly on this particular night so the girls were happy when we spotted "Live Music Inside" written on the ground. They followed the arrows and found themselves in a room with a DJ, dance floor and colored patterns projected onto a wall. Lola and Mathilde spent quite some time dancing to the music and watching their shadows on the colored wall.

By now it was starting to get close to bed time for the girls so we called it a night and started making our way back to BART. We made sure to check out a little more of the entertainment on our way out and got ourselves a big bag of kettle corn to share. No visit to a market is complete without kettle corn, right?

Jack's Night Market will be held again on Fridays June 17th and July 15th from 6pm to 10pm. It really is a fun night out for the whole family. We'll be back again - the kids want more of those corn dogs! And by kids, I mean me!

For more information about Jack's Night Market and other events at Jack London Square visit http://jacklondonsquare.com/