TwiLit Markets Westfield Helensvale: Opening hours, food, stalls, launch date

Remember NightQuarter? The market replacing it is going to be bigger and even better featuring 20 food vendors, a bar, live music, rides and more. Here’s everything you need to know.

A MAJOR events company responsible for markets around Australia is launching a permanent new weekend market at Westfield Helensvale at the site of the former NightQuarter.

TwiLit Markets will launch next Friday, November 19, with dozens of retail stalls, more than 20 food vendors, a bar, live music and rides and jumping castles.

The markets will be open every weekend from 5pm-10pm Friday and Saturday and 3pm-8pm on Sundays.

Entry will be $2 for over 16s, and free for pensioners and concession card holders.

Entertainment at the North Lakes by Night market in Brisbane.

Organisers said the retail stalls will be selling everything from candles and jewellery through to fashions, home decor, crystals, art and pet products.

Permanent stallholders will be given European-style wooden chalets, with the first four to be erected on the site this weekend.

Among the food stalls will be Ka Bao, Hungarian Food Factory, Dan’s Dim Sim Kitchen, Rosticceria Charcoal Grill and American barbecue specialists Smokin’ Hot BBQ.

Stalls at the North Lakes by Night market in Brisbane.

Customers watching a show at the North Lakes by night market in Brisbane.

Entertainment on the opening night next Friday will include two DJs and roving performers including magicians and fire twirlers.

The markets are being organised by AMA Event Management, which is behind a number of successful markets, festivals and expos throughout Australia.

The company is also responsible for the weekly North Lakes by Night Market, which launched in north Brisbane in March.

A spokesperson for the company told the Bulletin the new Helensvale market was a long-term proposition. The company is currently accepting bookings from stallholders for every weekend until the end of June.

The spokesperson said that TwiLit Markets will differ from NightQuarter by putting a greater emphasis on retail stalls.

A permanent stall at the North Lakes by Night market in Brisbane. Similar stalls will be erected at Helensvale.

Bonney MP Sam O’Connor said the arrival of the new market was “fantastic” news for the area after the “massive blow” of losing NightQuarter.

“Particularly for young people, there was nowehere else that they could really go that was just a good easy regular spot you could go on the weekend and enjoy food and music,” Mr O’Connor said.

“It really was a blow. So it will be fantastic to have something back on that site, which is such a perfect location.

“I would encourage everyone to get along and support it.”

The first stalls under construction at the new TwiLit Markets in Helensvale. Picture: Keith Woods.

Mr O’Connor said the arrival of the new market was particularly good news for the sole traders behind most stalls and food trucks, who had been hit hard during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Those sole traders got absolutely hammered by Covid,” he said. “They lost all of their events.

“They also weren’t supported by the funding support packages available. They didn’t have eligibility for the business support packages announced back in August. So they were hit really really hard.

“So hopefully this will breathe new life into an important space.”

Helensvale councillor William Owen Jones said the new market would be welcomed by local residents, who had been “saddened” by the loss of NightQuarter.

“ I wish them (the market operators) the best of luck and expect that they will be well patronised by the local community,” Mr Owen Jones said.

“The last 18 months with the pandemic have been difficult for traders in the area.

“A new group wanting to invest in the area is always welcome.”

NightQuarter closed for the last time on February 1, 2019.

Its owners at the time blamed a rent increase for the closure of the markets, which had operated since late 2015.

The markets had attracted average crowds of 5000 a night, and up to 7500 for festivals and special events.

In January, there was a backlash from the local community after it was reported that fast food giant McDonald’s was interested in buying the site.

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