Urbana announces expanded Night Market season with higher vendor interest

Kevin, a member of the city’s public realm study implementation team, briefed the Urbana City Council on Aug. 25 on plans for the 2025 Night Market at the Square, saying the event will run Thursdays in September from 6 to 9 p.m. with expanded vendor and performer lineups. Kevin said the city’s 2024 pilot ran six nights and drew about 4,600 total attendees and roughly 4,200 unique individuals, based on anonymized cell‑phone data. He told council there were 28 unique vendors in 2024 and 53 registered vendors for 2025, and that vendor fees generated roughly $6,500 last year. Staff described the Night Market as focused on arts and crafts vendors with food trucks, live painting, and local music. Kevin said the city plans two bands each night in 2025 (up from one band on most nights in 2024), a modest lighting and stage setup, and lighter, quicker, cheaper test projects rather than large infrastructure investments. He said musician fees averaged just under $1,000 per act and most performers were local. Kevin named Vivian Krishnan (arts and culture specialist) and Brian Heaton (market manager) as the staff who most directly run the market. He said marketing for 2025 will include radio ads, two billboards, flyers on MTD buses and other targeted outreach; the city will not repeat postcard mailers, which were the largest marketing expense in 2024. No formal council action was taken; council members asked one question about vendor access for small artists and staff offered to follow up with Brian Heaton about remaining vendor slots. The presenter invited the public to attend the Night Market on Thursdays in September.