New Orleans is full of opportunities for shopping: unique local stores, outdoor venues like the French Market, and a growing number of indoor food halls. But, increasingly, it's also home to a number of pop-up arts and crafts markets that treat locals and visitors to a range of housewares, clothes, food, and jewelry made by local and visiting artisans. Here are a few of them:
Piety Market in Exile
2372 St. Claude Ave.
As the name suggests, this market formerly had a home on Piety Street in the Bywater, but it recently located to the Healing Center on St. Claude Avenue, where shoppers can find it on the second Saturday of each month. More than 50 vendors offer everything from locally made pottery to African folk art. Food vendors are also often on hand, and visitors can stop in at the New Orleans Food Co-Op in the same building. A second story features used book vendors, and there are also often performances by poets, dancers, and other artists.
The Market at Dat Dog
3336 Magazine St.
Drop by the Magazine Street location of this local hot dog and sausage mini-chain each Saturday and Sunday afternoon to find a lineup of local vendors in the restaurant's courtyard. Sellers typically include visual artists, printmakers, and jewelry creators, as well as some in keeping with the restaurant's offerings, selling homemade hot sauces and jams. Dog (as
in pet, not frankfurter) apparel is also
often available. Interested vendors can contact Dat Dog with photos of their potential wares.
Mid-City Art & Farmer's Market
600 S. Jefferson Davis Pkwy.
Held twice a year in Comiskey Park by the Tulane-Banks Neighborhood Association, this free pop-up market helps to raise money for projects around the neighborhood. It also brings together vendors selling artwork, from wood carvings to paintings and prints, as well as bath and beauty products, spices, and baked goods. Dogs are often available for adoption, and there's a special area with activities like magic shows and face painting for the kids. If you already have a dog, there's an area for canines to play, if with human supervision. Food trucks and inexpensive beer are usually on hand for visitors who get hungry or thirsty.
Dark Art Market
1301 St. Bernard Ave.
On the second Wednesday night of every month, shoppers drop by The Goat bar on St. Bernard Avenue, a few blocks from St. Claude Avenue and Frenchmen Street, to grab a drink and stroll through an array of visual art, jewelry, and other wares crafted by local artists. As the name suggests, there's an emphasis on the supernatural and morbid, from creations made with insects and bones to work depicting witches, monsters, and the undead. Local bands playing a variety of rock genres, including punk and goth, perform with no cover charge.
Palace Market
619 Frenchmen St.
Alongside Frenchmen Street's celebrated music venues sits this outdoor market, featuring dozens of artists offering paintings, photography, and jewelry, as well as handmade lamps, other housewares, and musical instruments. Each Saturday night, a art live demonstration entertains visitors, the schedule for which is listed in advance on Facebook. The market opens nightly at 7 p.m. and is also open from 1:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon on Saturdays, before the evening Frenchmen Street rush.
Arts Market New Orleans
Palmer Park, S. Carrollton Avenue and South Claiborne Avenue
Located at the park at the end of the St. Charles streetcar line, this art market with a high-end vibe features dozens of local and Louisiana artists selling their work, from souvenir t-shirts to housewares, photo prints, and homemade soaps. Food trucks, live music, and beverage vendors help round out the event, which is held on the last Saturday of every month by the Arts Council New Orleans and the Louisiana Crafts Guild. In the event of rain, the market is typically rescheduled for the subsequent Sunday.
Freret Market
Freret Street and Napoleon Avenue
In the midst of the bustling Freret Street corridor, this pop-up market brings together dozens of vendors selling handmade art, vintage items, and local foods on the first Saturday of each month. Musicians also play to the crowd as shoppers look over handmade soaps, jewelry, and other goods or chow down on lunch items from kielbasa to yakamein. Zeus' Rescues is also often on hand with animals up for adoption. The market and annual Freret Street Festival were recently taken over by the Rotary Club of New Orleans Riverbend, which had already been serving beer at the festival. This market skips June, July, and August.
