Belfast Mela carnival parade set for city centre this Saturday

The new Belfast Mela carnival parade, which promises to be a colourful celebration of multiculturalism ahead of the Mela proper later in the month, will take place this Saturday, August 20.

The parade will make its way through Belfast City Centre and will be led by the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Christina Black, marking the start of the eight-day Belfast Mela Festival, which is organised annually by ArtsEkta, which has long celebrated the increasing cosmopolitanism and diversity of our capital, with staple exhibitions of Bollywood dancing and usually a panoply of international cuisine served up in Botanic Gardens.

The Mela Carnival parade will start at 12.30 from Writer’s Square, Belfast with 1000 participants representing more than 20 different cultural groups in their traditional costumes, pulsating world music and dance and amazing sculptures to celebrate Northern Ireland’s rich and ever increasing cultural diversity, as more and more ethnicities choose to call our city home.

The parade will finish at City Hall at 1.15pm where there will be a global village with breath-taking aerial acrobatic displays by Fidget Feet, who have teamed up with ArtsEkta’s South Asian Dance Academy - all-round Bollywood experts in the most vividly colourful costumes - on the East Lawn in front of City Hall at 2pm and 4pm.

Throughout the afternoon there will be live global performances on stage hosted by U105’s Carolyn Stewart and UTV’s Paul Reilly along with food of various ethnic origins that is sure to tantalise the taste buds and a selection of arts workshops to get involved in.

To be clear, the parade route will snake from Writer’s Square, moving along Donegal Street, onto Bridge Street before turning onto High Street, then making its merry way down Royal Avenue onto Donegall Place and culminating with the requisite jubilant fanfare at the majesty of our City Hall.

The best viewing points should be on High Street and on Royal Avenue and Donegal Place.