Ramadan bazaar offers late night long weekend shopping

A local market is inviting Edmontonains to celebrate Ramadan with some late-night shopping over the long weekend.

The three-day Rosie T Grand Bazaar will host more than 80 rotating local vendors from Edmonton and Calgary at the Canadian Druze Centre on 143 Street and 134 Avenue.

“Our community is so talented,” said owner and operator Rosie Taha. “We have everything here from homemade grills, like BBQ grills, we have jewelry, we have imported clothing from Dubai, special perfumes from Dubai … everything is halal.

“There’s just so many items I can’t even go through it all, but it’s all wonderful for the holy month and for Eid as gifts for people as well.”

On Friday and Saturday, the market will open at 1 p.m. and run until 7 p.m., when it will close briefly for iftar, the breaking of the daily fast during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan.

“Then we come back at 9:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m.,” Taha said. “So people can come and enjoy having something to eat. We have some food vendors, and they can shop until after midnight.”

Taha said the Eid and Ramadan bazaar is the most highly anticipated of the events she holds, with up to 7,000 shoppers stopping by.

“We also support a couple of local charities that come in and they can also do their donations for that month as well,” she added.

On Sunday, the market will hold a fashion show at 3:30 p.m. The bazaar will wrap up that night at 7 p.m. 

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Sean McClune