I love festivals. The multi-day camping kind, the food and drink kind, and the one-day-ers like our very own Southmead Festival. This year the Southmead Festival is on Saturday 8th July – it’s for all the family so make sure you’ve got it in your diary! This year there’s a theme for the Festival – Green! What does Green mean to you? Do you love wearing green? Are you interested in sustainability? Do you love nature or growing your own food? Anything goes! Whether you’re going to run an activity, sell something, simply come to relax and watch the entertainment, or enjoy the food, we’re all invited to join in with the Green theme. There’ll be a prize for the best Green themed outfit, so do start planning your look!
I’m really delighted to confirm that our headline music act is the one and only, well-loved and local, raised in Southmead, band of brothers, Hooper! We also have Ayhuasca performers, the Mariachi Wey band, the Greenway Sing-a-longers, DWild, and The Ranch Youth, I can’t wait!
Bristol is such a fantastic place for summer festivals. I love visiting different ones to see what other communities are up to. I’m planning to go to many of the Bristol Refugee Festival ‘Celebrating Sanctuary’ events in June, and to the big event with music, stalls and activities down at Queen’s Square on Sunday 25th June.
To Celebrate Sanctuary in Southmead this year we went on a Welcome Walk with the Greenway Strollers, and there’ll be a dedicated area and performances at the Southmead Festival. This year it’s also the 20th anniversary of the Festival of Nature – you will catch the last events this weekend at Blaise Castle and Leigh Woods, as well as in the city centre, to honour and enjoy our natural world.
The Southmead Festival team put in every effort not to clash with other festivals, but Bristol is jam packed with summer festivals every weekend! This year ours is alongside the Bristol Pride festival which celebrates the LGBTQ+ community, with a busy schedule from 24th June to 9th July. There’s plenty of time for you to attend Pride events and come to the Southmead Festival though so do come to both!
At the Festival you’ll find me in ‘Conversation Corner’ with my colleague Ella. We need your input on two community initiatives so do come and chill and chat with us. The first is the Southmead Yearly Update for 2023; you may remember the questions in The Mead last year, or perhaps we met you on your doorstep. We’ll be offering you some creative ways to share your thoughts about what you’d like to see happen in Southmead and asking you a few questions again about what it’s like to live here. We’ll also be out and about during the summer to chat to people who aren’t at the Festival and the questions will again also be on paper in The Mead August edition.
The other project we want to talk with you about in Conversation Corner is the Community Climate Action Plan for Southmead. Do come and share your ideas about what is important to you about the future. If you leave us your contact details, we’ll enter you for a special ‘Conversation Corner’ prize draw.
If you’d like to volunteer to help at the Festival, or to offer an activity, or sell from a stall, there’s still time to get in touch, tel: 0117 950 3335, email: info@southmead.org. See you there, it’s going to be another fab one!
