Mile End’s new open-air market & bar

The Marché des Possibles. Images by Pete & Vegas

Mile End is light on terrasses and green space, moving many of its residents to leave their area to find outdoor fun in the summer. But the central uptown ‘hood will soon have an open-air hang-out spot of its own.

This morning, Pop Montreal announced a new endeavour that finds them partnered with the Plateau borough and designers Pete & Vegas to bring live music, film screenings, family activities, art vendors, food trucks, a German biergarten and a grocer to the park and parking lot next to Arena St. Louis (at the corner of St-Dominique and Bernard) on Fridays through Sundays from July 11 to Aug. 31. It’s called the Marché des Possibles.

I spoke to the Marché’s coordinator and curator Vincent Dostaler-Tarte about the project’s conception and goals:

“The Marché des Possibles was an initiative from Marie Plourde,”  he says, referring to the Plateau/Mile End borough councillor (and former MusiquePlus VJ, incidentally). “She wanted to do something to revitalize the north-east part of Mile End because there’s a lot of potential in this area, but nobody goes there in the summer.”

With nearby buildings full of creative businesses, from mid-sized to large entities like Pop Montreal and Ubisoft to smaller start-ups and independent artists, the Marché hopes to draw after-work crowds to its site on Fridays (3–11 p.m.), and people from all over the neighbourhood and beyond on Saturdays (11 a.m.–11 p.m.) and Sundays (11 a.m.–7 p.m.).

“We’re going to take it year by year, see how it goes this summer,” says Dostaler-Tarte. “We’re confident that people will like this, and hopefully we can grow it in the future.”

See more information and programming details (much of it TBA at the moment) here. ■