NYC’s first Latin Night Market coming to Inwood with music, food and family fun

Dyckman Street in Inwood will transform into a party on Friday when the city’s first Latin Night Market hits the town with live music, dance performances, and food from the Latin American and Hispanic diaspora.

Organizers said that guests can expect to find food from Latin American countries including Columbia, El Salvador, and Ecuador: empanadas, tacos, pupusas, chicharrones and more. The event will also feature live music and dance performances showcasing salsa, reggae, rumba, and Latin pop music.

The event is organized by MASC Hospitality Group, which is also behind the Bronx, Uptown, Brooklyn and Vegan Night Market.

“The focus is on a true representation of Latin food and culture from 21 countries plus the Caribbean,” said MASC founder Marco Shalma, who said he hopes the event will eventually become a monthly series.

The market will take place from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m. between Dyckman Plaza and Inwood Park in a neighborhood that’s home to many people of Latin and Hispanic heritage.

New York City is home to about two and a half million Hispanic and Latino people, comprising more than 25% of the city’s population of 8.8 million people.

“Dyckman is really a hub of the center of the Latin community,” Shalma said.

Shalma is not Latino or Hispanic himself, but said the night market is about celebrating the wide range of meal options and how certain ingredients – such as a maize dough, also known as masa – connect the countries.

“This is the opportunity that we saw to bring it all to one place and to celebrate the connection,” Shalma said. “Certain ingredients that are being used by different nations, but in a similar vein.”

He said the market will host around 40 vendors, including Barrelhouse NY, which was started by Hector Pedraza. It specializes in Colombian barbecue foods that have been cooked in a steel barrel instead of on a regular grill.

“Barbecue in a barrel is very big in Columbia ever…