Friday 28 June 2013

Glasgow Mela

by Roz

I was excited about the West End Festival in the weeks leading up to it and even wrote a post on my top picks.  The events I've been along to have lived up to the hype, such as the parade, and last weekend I headed along to Glasgow Mela in Kelvingrove Park.  The festival ran on both Saturday and Sunday, but Saturday was a rather unpredictable day weather wise with a lot of heavy rain showers, so I held off and went on Sunday which was a lovely sunny afternoon.

The Mela weekend is Scotland's largest multi-cultural event with performances across three stages, a Mela Bazaar (a street market set up with an array of tents selling everything from fabrics and gifts to delicious street food) and roaming street performers.  I was really looking forward to exploring the event at my local park.




After arriving in the park and taking in the scale of the event, one of the first things I saw were the street act below, aren't they fabulous?  They are actually on scooters (you can see the handles better in the second shot) but when I first saw them coming towards me in the park it actually did look a bit like they were floating!  I'm not actually sure what they were part of which is a shame but they don't they look awesome scooting about the park?!





Near the food stalls (the park smelt amazing!!), a giant frame was set up with silks, hoops and a trapeze hanging from it.  They were an organisation called Spinal Chord and we stood and watched the performers for a while as they were very good.  We did wonder how you decide that you want to do something quite so niche for a living, but what an interesting job / hobby to tell people about when you first meet them.





You can see from the crowd gathered around their performance area that a lot of people in the park were enjoying the show and there were plenty of oooohs and ahhhhs when the acts pulled off some super flexible moves.



All areas of the park were very busy and it was lovely to see so many people out enjoying the park and the delights of the Mela Festival.  I like have different memories of the park that I use for boot camp, instead of memories of sit ups in the mud or running up the very steep hills!


There were three large stages set up in the park with performances from Samba bands, steel bands, dance troupes, singers.... there really was something for everyone.


The outfits worn by some of the performers and stall holders were simply stunning, I was envious of a number of the beautiful bright coloured fabrics.  And the stall below shows off some of the outfits and fabrics that you were able to purchase.


I really enjoyed wandering around the event and I think it is brilliant for Glasgow and the West End to hold such exciting events in the park.  I hope the Glasgow Mela returns next year as I will definitely head along again.  Well it would be rude not to when the park is on the doorstep of our new house :)



Did any else make it along to the Glasgow Mela?

Roz xx

P.S. Sorry there are no pictures of the amazing food, next year I promise!!

P.P.S. Don't forget to enter our fantastic giveaway to win a £40 Amazon voucher!

1 comment:

Elsie said...

LOVE me a good mela. I've been to Leeds & Manchester Melas and worked at the Bradford one. The Bradford one fell on a really hot weekend and all I wanted to do was chill out with everyone else, mill about the stalls & sit on the grass just enjoying to be there, having to work was rubbish!

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