A local festival celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) culture is moving to the music this year with a new concert setup. NightMarket.fun will bring together more than 100 local vendors in food, cocktails, anime, art, and more at Lakeline Park on Saturday, November 14. New this year, the main stage is a full concert experience headlined by Ruby Ibarra.

NightMarket.fun started in Austin in 2024, and has since moved to Cedar Park and become an official City of Cedar Park event. This is its second year there. It is hosted by AANHPI art nonprofit the Lunar Foundation and Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce.

Lunar Foundation founder and executive director Andrew Lee explains in an email to CultureMap that the market is shifting its focus to pop culture.

"We reframed the festival around Asian pop culture, and our Central Texas AANHPI artists are making it, not echoing it," said Lee. "We put them on the same stage as this year’s national headliners. They’re not fans of the scene. They’re in it."

The main stage will spotlight eight artists, including promqueen and francene rouelle, and alongside two cultural performances. Filipina-American rapper Ruby Ibarra, who won the NPR Tiny Desk Contest in 2025, will finish out the night's performances. The main stage acts were curated by the first Asian American music label in Texas, mHart Media.

The second stage, managed by ATX Artists for Social Impact, will feature another eight performances as well as eating contests. The contests are sponsored by H-E-B and headlined by Raina Huang, who has a large online following as a professional eater.

Artists will bring prints, trinkets, and other items to browse in person.Photo courtesy of NightMarket.fun

An app that helps attendees navigate the market launched yesterday, November 2. Guests can win prizes, but should note that data will be collected. Lee says it will be used to compile a post-event impact report for artists, vendors, and sponsors to guide customer engagement after the festival. Users can collect tokens at each vendor they visit to win prizes at the end of the event.

Another digital offering, the augmented reality Kaiju Hunt, is new this year. The scavenger hunt by AR partner Illust places original kaiju ("strange beast" in Japanese, monsters), designed and submitted online in advance by the NightMarket.fun community, around the park. Users can then participate in a trading card game. There will also be a new Pokémon Takeover Zone by Trainer's Sandbox, where attendees can learn to play, trade items from their personal collections, see cosplayers, and more.

Additional offerings at the festival include galleries for local professional artists and community members, outdoor movie screenings by Alamo Drafthouse, activities for kids, and a women's wellness lounge with offerings from a variety of cultures and a quiet space for nursing.

Attendees will see the following food vendors at the market:

• Chi'lantro
• Red Dragon Bao
• Two Sisters Kimchi
• Aburi Oshi Sushi
• Happy Lemon
• Thai Treats by Tien
• Tito's Bar

Lakeline Park is located at 1510 Alexis Dr. in Cedar Park. NightMarket.fun takes place from 4-10 pm. Tickets ($32.55 for general admission) are available online, with discounts for kids and add-ons like parking an an eating contest entry.