On most weeknights, the stretch of pavement outside Cineplex Windermere empties out by nine. Home Depot closes, Walmart closes, the last table at Boston Pizza clears out, and Currents of Windermere goes back to being what it is most of the year: a very efficient, very large collection of big-box stores connected by wide sidewalks. Six days from now, that changes. AsiaFest returns to the Town Square at Currents of Windermere for three nights, and the lot that usually holds shopping carts will hold lantern displays, a stage, and more vendors than the event has ever fit into one weekend.
If you live in Windermere, you have probably already seen the banners going up. Here is what is actually happening, what it means for your regular errands that weekend, and where to eat if you would rather sit down than wait in a food truck line.
The Weekend, Mapped Out
AsiaFest runs Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27, from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. each day, at the Town Square inside Currents of Windermere. Admission is free. This year's theme, "Under the Moon," ties the event to the Mid-Autumn Festival, with lantern displays built into the layout alongside the usual mix of street food, live performances, and an artisan market.
Organizers are putting the vendor count at more than 120 this year, including over 40 dedicated Asian food vendors, with performances from more than 50 cultural groups across the three days. A few other event listings put the number closer to 90, which tells you less about the festival shrinking and more about how fast the count keeps moving between when different sites publish their pages. Either way, this is not the same festival that showed up in Windermere a few years ago, and that gap is worth sitting with for a second.
From Ten Vendors to a Festival That Outgrew Its Own Footprint
AsiaFest started in September 2022 as the Taste of Asia Night Market, organized by a small group of newcomers and longtime immigrants with no funding and no event experience. The first year had ten vendors total: four selling food, six selling merchandise. By 2025, the event had grown enough that the City of Edmonton recognized it as one of the city's largest night markets, with vendor counts topping 100. This year, organizers describe the AsiaFest footprint at Currents as twice the size it was last year, which means the growth did not just show up in the vendor count. It showed up in how much of the Town Square had to be handed over to make room.
| Year | Vendors | What Changed |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 (as Taste of Asia Night Market) | 10 | First event, no outside funding |
| 2025 | 100+ | Recognized by the City of Edmonton as one of its largest night markets |
| 2026 | 90-120+ (estimates vary by listing) | Venue footprint doubled from the prior year |
That is a fast climb for an event that started as a weekend project by people with, in the organizers' own words, no connections and no event experience. It also means the Town Square itself is being tested in a way it rarely is the rest of the year. This space was built in 2018 as part of the original Currents development, described at the time as a gathering space meant for exactly this kind of use. For most of the calendar, it functions as a plaza people walk through on their way to Sephora or the Cineplex. For three nights in September, it is doing the job it was actually designed for.
What Changes If You're Just Running to Home Depot
If your plans for that weekend involve anything other than AsiaFest, it is worth knowing that Currents itself is flagging the disruption. The property's own event page warns that traffic around the site will be busy throughout the weekend and that some parking areas will be temporarily restricted to accommodate the festival. That matters more in Windermere than it would somewhere else, because Currents isn't just an entertainment stop here. It is also where a lot of residents do their actual errands: Walmart, Home Depot, Canadian Tire, and the bank branches are all on the same footprint as the festival stage.
The practical workaround is the one AsiaFest itself is recommending: carpool, take transit, or use a park-and-ride option if you have one nearby. Edmonton Transit's Route 716 runs from Century Park LRT directly to Currents of Windermere, and the festival is also directing overflow parking and signage through Heritage Valley. If you need something from one of the anchor stores that weekend, going earlier in the day, before the 2 p.m. festival start, is the simplest way to avoid the worst of it.
Where to Eat If You Don't Want to Wait in a Food Truck Line
Part of AsiaFest's appeal is the food, and 40-plus vendors is a real spread. But if three nights of festival lines isn't your idea of dinner, or you'd rather eat before the crowds build, Currents has sit-down options within a short walk of the Town Square that don't require standing outside.
Buco Pizzeria + Vino Bar, in the Upper Windermere section of the development, runs wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizza alongside a menu built around arancini and mushroom ravioli, with a wine list that leans Italian. Flame & Barrel, an independently owned restaurant in the Windermere community, describes itself as the answer to the "where can we all agree to eat" problem, with a globally inspired menu that covers steak, burgers, and brunch on weekends. Nagoya, which opened its Windermere location as an expansion from its original Edmonton North restaurant, focuses on sushi and ramen, with sashimi and mango mochi showing up often in what regulars mention first.
None of these require a reservation weeks out, and all three are close enough to the Town Square that you can walk over to AsiaFest for dessert or a lantern-lit stroll after dinner without needing to move your car.
The Town Square Was Built for This, It Just Took a While
AsiaFest isn't the only sign that Currents has been quietly becoming more than a big-box strip. Sephora opened its doors there in March, joining what the property's developer describes as an already established mix of large-format anchors and boutique retailers. The Canadian Brewhouse's Windermere location has also been running a patio concert series this year, including a jazz night with the local band T3 Swingcats. None of this is dramatic on its own. Taken together, it points to a shopping center that has spent the last few years filling in the gap between "place you run errands" and "place you actually spend an evening."
AsiaFest is the clearest version of that shift, because it is the one weekend a year when the Town Square stops being a walkway between stores and becomes the actual reason people show up. The event outgrew its own footprint in four years. Whether that growth continues past 2026 is not something anyone can promise, but for this particular weekend, the space finally matches the intent it was built with back in 2018.
If you're in Windermere, the easiest plan is simple: go to AsiaFest for the food and the lanterns, run your Home Depot errands before 2 p.m. if you can, and if you want a sit-down dinner without the wait, Buco, Flame & Barrel, and Nagoya are all a short walk from the noise.
Windermere keeps adding reasons to stay in the neighborhood for an evening instead of just passing through it. If you're curious what else is shaping this part of southwest Edmonton, from new development to the details that make specific streets and lots stand out, Rimrock Real Estate keeps a close eye on the area as both builders and neighbors.