{"id":1177574,"date":"2026-08-30T17:28:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T17:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1177574\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T17:28:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T17:28:28","slug":"thousands-turn-out-for-music-dance-and-food-as-belfast-mela-festival-turns-twenty-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1177574\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands turn out for music, dance and food as Belfast Mela Festival turns twenty \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Thousands of people packed into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/tags\/belfast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/tags\/belfast\">Belfast\u2019s <\/a>Botanic Gardens on Sunday for a day of music, dance and food as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/tags\/mela\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/tags\/mela\">Mela<\/a> Festival marked its 20th anniversary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The festival\u2019s finale, brought together artists, performers and community groups from across Northern Ireland and around the world, with a programme taking in cultural performances, theatre, family activities and food stalls.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Belfast&#x2019;s annual Mela Day celebrates its 20th anniversary at Botanic Gardens. PICTURE: BRIAN LINCOLN\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/VXCCEGRLONF7NA3Z4YL56TMD5M.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"520\"\/>Belfast\u2019s annual Mela Day celebrates its 20th anniversary at Botanic Gardens. PICTURE: BRIAN LINCOLN <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Lord Mayor of Belfast Councillor R\u00f3is-M\u00e1ire Donnelly joined Nisha Tandon OBE, founder of Belfast Mela and chief executive of ArtsEkta, to mark the anniversary, alongside Junior Minister Joanne Bunting MLA and hundreds of artists and participants.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Belfast&#x2019;s annual Mela Day celebrates its 20th anniversary at Botanic Gardens. PICTURE: BRIAN LINCOLN\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6OBGEMEPORCNPGLWMECJRG6XXA.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Belfast\u2019s annual Mela Day celebrates its 20th anniversary at Botanic Gardens. PICTURE: BRIAN LINCOLN <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Ms Tandon said: \u201cTwenty years of Belfast Mela is an extraordinary milestone, and I feel incredibly proud and grateful as we celebrate this special anniversary with our Mela family today.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/news\/northern-ireland\/former-taoiseach-rejects-gordon-browns-claim-united-ireland-is-certain-DFWVMP6J5ZGC5OJ3ZQ377ILFAA\/\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Former Taoiseach rejects Gordon Brown&#x2019;s claim United Ireland is certain\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/FBM7D53FYBIQFM5JGXHL4GICLI.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/><\/a><a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/news\/northern-ireland\/fewer-than-three-convictions-in-northern-ireland-for-unauthorised-demolition-or-alteration-of-listed-buildings-ULGXW7YRUJDKPG2SASVTLEHHRE\/\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"&#x2018;Fewer than three&#x2019; convictions in Northern Ireland for unauthorised demolition or alteration of listed buildings \" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1788110905_374_7NYUXDWYKFMN7JYBLPS76M4X7I.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/><\/a><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Belfast&#x2019;s annual Mela Day celebrates its 20th anniversary at Botanic Gardens. PICTURE: BRIAN LINCOLN\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3SSOQEVIP5F6LBCK7HVCSRRTBY.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Belfast\u2019s annual Mela Day celebrates its 20th anniversary at Botanic Gardens. PICTURE: BRIAN LINCOLN <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cMela has grown into a much-loved celebration for Belfast and beyond, bringing together artists, communities and audiences from across the world. This 20th anniversary festival has been a wonderful reminder of the power of culture to connect us, inspire us and create a sense of belonging.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Belfast&#x2019;s annual Mela Day celebrates its 20th anniversary at Botanic Gardens. PICTURE: BRIAN LINCOLN\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/KQDVWFUS25BN5CHTTIJQLYDCJI.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Belfast\u2019s annual Mela Day celebrates its 20th anniversary at Botanic Gardens. PICTURE: BRIAN LINCOLN <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI want to thank every artist, performer, community group, volunteer, partner and audience member who has been part of the Mela journey over the past 20 years. Most importantly, thank you to the people of Belfast and beyond who continue to embrace Mela and make it their own. Here\u2019s to the next chapter of Mela.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of people packed into Belfast\u2019s Botanic Gardens on Sunday for a day of music, dance and food&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1177575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[2378,319104,1144,16,15],"class_list":["post-1177574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-belfast","tag-mela","tag-northern-ireland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117185645555386179","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1177574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1177575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1177574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1177574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1177574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}