INDUSTRY CITY — THE BROOKLYN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE’S FIRST-EVER Asian-American Night Market attracted thousands to Sunset Park’s Industry City in honor of AANHPI Heritage Month in May. The event featured more than 60 food, drink, and crafts vendors from a wide spectrum of Asian cultures — representing Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Malaysian, Taiwanese, Thai, and Vietnamese people.

“If you think about it, it’s not just from a commerce perspective — it’s about the cultural influence that Asian Americans have had in Brooklyn, New York City and in the United States,” said Randy Peers, the Brooklyn Chamber’s president and CEO. “There’s such a strong Chinese-American community, a vibrant Korean-American community, an amazing Filipino-American community — but there is also a Southeastern Asian presence as well. It’s all here, and it’s all represented in Brooklyn. Where else in the world can you find something like this?”

Lester Chang, 49th District assemblymember (representing Bath Beach, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, and Dyker Heights), explained that, after the pandemic, Industry City “was almost a ghost town. So it’s incredible now to see this kind of vibrancy,” Chang said, crediting the Brooklyn Chamber.

“Believe it or not, Sunset Park’s Chinatown is even bigger than Manhattan’s Chinatown,” said Kathie Lee, the BCC’s executive vice president and chief legal officer.