On Saturday, the pan-Asian Red Lantern City Night Market returns to Saigon Cafe for its third year in the Central West End, and it’s aiming to top last year’s massive turnout. In 2024, nearly 12,000 people flocked to North Euclid Avenue in St. Louis, where visitors of all ages enjoyed two blocks of vendors with food and artisan goods, Japanese drumming, lion dancing and an energized buzz.
Red Lantern founder and Taberu STL chef/owner Heidi Hamamura is confident – and ready to top that visitor count. “I’ve tripled my prep,” she said. “And we told our vendors to double what they brought last year.”
Since launching in 2021, the event has grown. Hamamura describes it as “part carnival, part bazaar, part block party.”…