The West End Solstice Twilight Market is set to transform Davies Park into a six-hour winter celebration, with more than 150 stalls, live fire performances, roving entertainers and a pop-up bar taking over the riverside precinct.
The free event runs from 4pm to 10pm on 19 June at the corner of Montague Road and Jane Street. Registering for a free ticket also enters visitors into a draw for a gourmet market hamper.
The annual event has become one of the most anticipated nights on West End’s community calendar, bringing a different energy to the park that serves as the backdrop for the weekly Saturday morning markets. Same location, same community roots, different mood entirely.
How Davies Park transforms after sunset
The Camali Band headlines the live music program, setting the tone as the light drops and the temperature follows. Roving performers work the crowd throughout the evening: fire performers, the Fire Fairy, Japanese Drummers, face painters, the Bubble Magic Man and a live glass blowing demonstration that tends to draw its own audience once it gets going.
Bonfires are positioned across the park to gather around. The pop-up bar serves craft beer and Glühwein, the warm spiced wine that has become a fixture of the event over its years at Davies Park.
The park’s canopy of Moreton Bay figs, which frame the Saturday morning market in shade, takes on a completely different character with fire and low winter light underneath them.
The food
Over 150 stalls covers everything from fresh artisan finds to gourmet street food built for a winter night. Wagyu Blacks, Get to Bird and Barbie on Charcoal are among the food vendors confirmed for the evening, covering the heavier and more satisfying end of the market food spectrum.
The broader stall mix covers handmade and artisan goods alongside the food, with the scale of the event giving it more range than a typical Friday night market.
A market with decades behind it
Davies Park has been home to a beloved weekly market for decades, with the West End Markets now operating under Goodwill Projects, running every Saturday from 6am to 2pm beneath a canopy of Moreton Bay figs along the Brisbane River.
The winter solstice event sits outside that regular schedule as an annual occasion, and its community following reflects how embedded the market culture is in West End’s identity.
The Winter Solstice Twilight Market has run each June, taking advantage of the suburb’s capacity to turn an outdoor space into something genuinely festive when the occasion calls for it.
The West End Solstice Twilight Market runs next Friday, 19 June from 4pm to 10pm at the corner of Montague Road and Jane Street, West End. Free entry. RSVP via the Facebook event or click here to register for a free ticket and the hamper draw.
Published 12-June-2026
