There was buzz of activity in the air at the Kingston Butter Factory on Friday night as people came together at the inaugural Milky Way Market.
The car park outside the event precinct was full, and so were the reserve parking spaces on the grass next to the Kingston train station Park’n’ride.
Patrons entered to find a food truck and an animal farm.
Over 25 stylish stalls lined the walkways, with purveyors of goods happily explaining the contents of their stalls to interested passers-by.
Some of the more notable stalls included Bomb-dickity, which sold bath producs, JACaranda clothing from Mount Warren Park, and Sum Blokes BBQ, a rubs and spices business run by a fourth-generation Indigenous Australian who sold delicious spices for meats, sourced from all over Australia.
Walking round a stall fit for Comicon, I picked up a very nerdy Doctor Who-themed water bottle, and was seriously considering getting a second, such was the quality of the homemade printed artwork on the exterior of the bottle.
At an intersection between these stalls, and the food trucks a fake ‘bobby’ by the name of Senior-Constable Robert entertained families by playing up his interactions with a slice of innuendo, thankfully low-level!
20 international food trucks were packed onto the grassy area below the bank, including Lebanese, Japanese, Italian and Dutch cuisine.
I enjoyed some deliciously crunchy Japanese karage chicken with mayonnaise, before tucking into some Dutch poffertjes (very fluffy) with strawberries and cream for dessert.
Families, young and old (but mostly young), were thoroughly enjoying their Fridays nights outdoors, after another week of COVID uncertainty, with games, food and live music to entertain.
Most wore masks, although there was one vendor who asked me not to take a photo until he had his mask on.
The animal farm run by My Little Farm Friends was a major attraction for the kids, who could feed goats and lambs up close and personal, with mum watching closely for any sign of animal trouble.
The operator at the gate to the pen told me that usually they would do Vacation Care and nursing home exhibitions and meet-and-greets, but that these had become increasingly hard to do because of COVID.
Undoubtedly though, the biggest event of the night was the unveiling of Logan City Council’s new stage, which was originally meant to happen in December.
The night was a huge success for the local artists involved, including, but not limited to, Mayan Fox, Briana Dinsdale Band, Lisa Maps, August River Band and Machine Age.
The grass in front of the stage was comfortable to sit on, although people wishing to use chairs should note that they will have to bring their own along to future events here. 
The only major hitch of the evening was a couple of showers which swept across Kingston, most notably at 7pm when a crowd of around 200 was reduced to 20, just before the start of Briana Dinsdale Band’s set.
Another minor drawback was the positioning of the stage so close to the railway line, and the sound of the Beenleigh and Gold Coast line trains were noticeable at points during the sets.
The technical set up of the stage all worked swimmingly, however, with sound, smoke machines, and equipment all functioning to the best of their ability.
The cameras and technical equipment filming the event were also a success.
One stall reported that their profits were way down at Milky Way Market in comparison to other markets such as Yarabilba.
Overall, however, the first Milky Way Market at Kingston was an enormous success for the vast majority of people involved.
Organizer Jane Dear, who had spent the week making sure all the finishing touches were applied to the preparation of the event, would have been pleased at the number of people who showed up, and the excitement shared by all.
