The Glasgow Mela was started 25 years ago, as a small event attracting a handful of people. Today the Mela, celebrating its 25th anniversary, has become Scotland’s largest multi-cultural annual festival. The free event is open to all and will be celebrated this year on 14th June, Sunday, from 12Noon to 8:00pm, at the Kelvingrove Park in the West End of Glasgow. New events and some events to bring the Mela to local communities will be held. On 19th April, Sunday. The ‘Mela on Your Doorstep’ will be hosted at the Barmulloch community centre and later on 16th May, Saturday, at Trmway.
The very first Mela was held in 1990 as an indoor event at the Tramway, then newly opened, and was a part of European City of Culture. Later it moved over to Queens-Park Glasgow Green and more recently held at Kelvingrove Park. There will be dozens of stalls at the free festival, selling a diverse range of food, as part of ‘Year of Food and Drink’ of Scotland. All through the day performers will be on stage, as hundreds of them from across the world come here to perform. Derived from the Sanskrit word ‘to meet’, Mela showcases the many cultures of Glasgow, also attracting tens of thousands of visitors to the city.
This popular free festival incorporates new events and celebrates Glasgow’s continuous evolution as the country’s most culturally and ethnically diverse city and to offers a platform for it. Festival audiences will enjoy a diverse programme of performances, as well as family activities, film screening, stalls selling a variety of things and world food to taste. The chairwoman of the Mela, councillor Soryia Siddique, said the Glasgow Mela has grown beyond the wildest dreams of everyone.
