A number of events have been confirmed for public parks across Belfast in 2025.
At a Belfast City Council committee meeting in City Hall, six events were confirmed for Boucher Road Playing fields, Ormeau Park, Cathedral Gardens, Botanic Gardens, Victoria Park, and Waterworks Park.
Elected members at the January meeting of the council’s People and Communities Committee approved requests by the Belfast Mela, the Belfast Marathon Half and Full, the St Patrick's Day Festival, the 'Wellfest', a Leukaemia charity run, and Circus Vegas.
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Belfast Mela has become the leading multicultural festival in the city, and will again pack out Botanic Gardens this August Saturday 26 and Sunday 27. The council gave multiple year approval, including festivals for 2026 and 2027.
Belfast Council has given an annual funding award of £20,000 to the Mela “in support of the event in terms of promoting one of the city’s key outdoor spaces.” The council’s Strategic Policy and Resources is yet to confirm this funding for future festivals.
The council approved a request from Belfast City Marathon to use both Ormeau Park and the Waterworks to deliver the full marathon event in May and the use of both Ormeau Park and Victoria Park to support the delivery of the half Marathon event in September.
The full Marathon will take place on May 4 and will be celebrating its 43rd year of running in Belfast. The Half Marathon will take place on September 21.
The route for this year’s full Marathon will take participants through the Waterworks and once again the organisers have requested permission to have the finish line at Ormeau Park.
The event organisers have requested permission for the Half Marathon to begin in Ormeau Park with the route taking the race through Victoria Park and finishing again in Ormeau. Like the full marathon there will be an entertainment zone set up at the finish line in Ormeau Park.
The Belfast Marathon was awarded World Label status in 2024 making it the only full marathon on the Island of Ireland to be awarded this. The event organisers have recruited 15,000 volunteers to help officiate the marathons and in 2024 the full marathon generated over £12 million for the city and the half marathon generated £8 Million with around 70,000 spectators attending the event annually.
Belfast TradFest is delivering the St Patrick’s Day weekend musical showcase programme on behalf of Belfast City Council from March 14 to 17. The main focus of activity will be the creation of a St Patrick’s Day village around the Cathedral Quarter between 2pm and 5pm on Sunday March 17.
The festival village will include a live outdoor music stage, family fun activities and a food village in Cathedral Gardens, an open-air acoustic music and dance stage in Saint Anne’s Square and an ongoing afternoon Céilí in the Mac.
The council approved a request from 'Wellfest' to bring their wellness event to Boucher Road playing fields in 2025. Wellfest is an alcohol-free festival that is designed to inspire those who attend to better their own health and wellbeing.
The event brings together leading names in health, fitness and wellness to deliver live workouts, educational talks and “create memories that will inspire those who attend for the long term.”
The event will have five different designated areas within the event space. The main stage is designed to allow the headliners for the event to deliver movement based classes to the attendees such as HITT workouts, high intensity cardio dancing, Yoga and accessible low impact mobility classes.
The WellTalk stage is designed to discuss topics such as the importance of gut and skin health alongside mental wellbeing and infestation. The WellYoga area is mat based and sessions will be designed “to bring the mind and body together through a series of movement and breathwork, allowing the attendees to have a feeling of balance and support.”
The WellKids area is for those with children to relax and allow kids to take part in yoga and dance classes. The WellVillage is a market style trading zone for local businesses to showcase and trade their products.
The event is over two-days, Saturday and Sunday May 24 and 25, between 9am and 6.30pm. Price tickets are the Weekend early bird - £68, the Saturday/Sunday early bird - £47, the Weekend final release - £75 and Saturday/Sunday final release - £58. Each ticket purchased includes free entry for up to two children under the age of 12 as it is designed to be a family friendly event.
Once a ticket is purchased it will allow the attendee to have access to all workshops and classes with the only additional costs being for food and drinks.
The council also approved a request from Leukaemia and Lymphoma NI to host a charity run at Ormeau Park on September 28. The event is designed to raise money and awareness for the charity, with researchers in the illness encouraged to wear lab coats and members of the public to wear pyjamas to signify the bedside element of the event.
The proposed route for the event will begin at the cancer centre moving through Queens university and finishing by using the 5km park run route around Ormeau Park finishing at the bandstand.
Circus Vegas lastly received permission to host a circus big top experience at Boucher Road Playing Fields from Thursday April 10 to Sunday April 27.
The council said: “The organisers produce a one-of-a-kind performance, featuring the most talented dare devil performers and extreme acts from across the globe, merging Las Vegas traditions and contemporary styles with extreme stunts and classic clown escapades. Audiences will be amazed by the jam-packed production with show-stopping performances that will have you on the edge of your seat.”
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