Circus acts, dance and music will bring the city alive this Bank Holiday weekend when the Newcastle Mela returns to Exhibition Park.
The annual celebration of South Asian culture is an open-to-all festival which lays on a two-day programme of free treats that attracts up to 40,000 visitors over its run. And this year's family festival will play out from August 28-29 with entertainers including singers and musicians.
Besides international acts, local groups are also heavily involved in the festival which showcases the likes of Pakistani, Bengali and Indian cultures. Food is a big part of the celebrations and visitors will be able to explore a range of hot and cold dishes at stalls spread throughout the city festival site.
Other stalls at Exhibition Park will be selling clothes, gifts and jewellery and there will be art and craft activities for people to try. The Newcastle Mela is a multi-cultural treat which has been a hugely popular part of the Newcastle festival scene for more than 25 years..
Read more: Guide to Great North Run 2022
Ahead of the main event, there will be a Mela in the City spin-off at Grey's Monument on Saturday, August 27. Running from 11am until 4pm, this will see performers Bombay Baja and the SonAash sisters host dancing and drumming workshops while other activities will include henna tattoos and arts and crafts, with music by SpiceFM adding to the atmosphere.
The Mela then will get under way on Sunday at noon. Following on from last year's festival, whose range of stalls included saris and slippers, the event will open with a SpiceFM Roadshow and a community stage open to local peformers until 3pm. Then dhol and Bollywood workshops will follow before a range of performers up the ante, including music favourites Jenna, Jay Kadn, Mumzy Stranger.
On Bank Holiday Monday, after a similar noon roadshow and community slots to kick off the action, there will be plenty more entertainment to come with acts including Metz n Trix, Taz Stereo Nation, Arjun and Malkit Singh plus Hunterz, Roach Killa and Garry Sandhu. And it has just been announced that singer and music producer Jaz Dhami will be taking to the stage on the festival's final day at 6pm.
For the full programme keep an eye out on the Mela site here.
Read Next
