Animas City Night Bazaar returned Wednesday with its celebration of the “Bazaar-BQ” at Union Social House and Aesthetics and Wellness.

There were yard games, face painting and multiple food vendors, including Heavy Burger Food Truck, MISABEL Tamales y Mas and the Union Social House Taco Special.

“This one was a more mellow arrangement,” said Hayley Kirkman, marketing manager for Animas City Night Bazaar. “We just wanted people to hang out and eat good food.”

Trevor Lytle said the event was heavily inspired by the North Main Event, which was a block party held on north Main Avenue. Lytle was in charge of creating a bulletin board for the event asking: What do you love about Animas City? And what would you like to see in Animas City?

“People mostly responded with walkability, connections with neighbors – you know, more art, more vendors, more places to eat,” Lytle said.

Performances took place at Union Social House featuring the Ballet Folklorico dancers from Fort Lewis College and Afrobeatniks, a band inspired by the spiritual music of Africa.

“For north Main to have access to what usually you could only find on the grid in terms of events, it’s a nice way to bring Animas City its own little fiesta block party,” said ACNB board member Jeff Hamner.

In the Aesthetics and Wellness parking lot, artists showed their work and some sold handmade jewelry while listening to the sounds of DJ Cristen Alexandria.

The Bazaar-BQ was the second event for Animas City Night Bazaar, which takes place on the last Wednesday of the month from June to September. The previous event was “Living Art” sponsored by Cream Bean Berry.

“We had the Living Art bazaar, and that was super fun and super colorful,” Hamner said. “Over at the Union Social House, we had a drag show. And they were just like done up to the max and got to share and express their form of art.”

The next events will be “Weird Science” sponsored by Sage Fresh Eats on Aug. 31, followed by the “Animas Olympic Games” on Sept. 28.

The Animas Olympic Games will include a skateboard competition, roller derby and a pingpong tournament. The new Mountain Middle School location will host some of the events for the Animas Olympic Games.

tbrown@durangoherald.com