Now in its 12th year, Glasgow’s Merchant City Festival is starting to become a real staple of the yearly festival calendar. It’ll always struggle to compete with the burgeoning West End Festival, however this considerably shorter event (just 5 days, this year from the 24th to the 28th of July) really packs a punch with loads of entertainment and cultural events in this trendy part of town.
Leader of Glasgow City Council, Gordon Matheson, is also the offical chair of the Merchant City Festival and is proud that “the wealth of music, culture and artistic vision that will be on show reflects the fantastic arts organisations and venues our city has to offer.” This certainly goes without saying, as the 5 day festival packs in around 100 separate events (by my very rough count) including a great variety of street theatre from all over europe and live music on the multitude of stages which will be cropping up around the area. All set surrounded by some of the city centre’s best bars and restaurants, this is sure to be a cultural festival to really amaze and entertain. Read on to see what Get Out Glasgow will definitely be making their way along to, as well as the obvious highlights of the festival.
The Big 5 (Every Day)
If you’ve ever wanted to dance in a “flash mob”, this is probably your most structured chance to do so! Running every day of the festival, Dance HQ is looking for people of all ages and backgrounds to come along and have a boogie on the streets of the city centre, complete with some impromptu dance lessons if you’re a bit clueless. They have their own website with full details of where to be and when, and some nice videos of their previous dances.
Glasgow Necropolis Walking Tour (Thu/Fri/Sat)
I’ve long been an advocate that the Necropolis is one of Glasgow’s most impressive tourist attractions, and one that doesn’t get anywhere near enough attention. If you’ve never made your way over, get yourself signed up to this informal walking tour to get the full experience of the place. Booking in advance is essential so head over to the website if you’re interested.
Continental Market Place (Fri/Sat/Sun)
An authentic Artisan Italian Market is set to bring real flavour to Candleriggs. Opening on Friday, traders from all corners of Italy will be resident until the end of the festival. Shoppers of Glasgow will have the opportunity to enjoy browsing for items from across the beautiful country, as Italian traders bring an array of products typical of their region offering a truly unique experience not to be missed for the local foodies.
13th Note 3 Day Music Festival (Fri/Sat/Sun)
One of my favourite pubs in town (review here) hosts a wonderful, completely free, three day music festival starting with heavy stuff on Friday, seguing into some hop swaying guitar and rock melodies on Saturday and finishing up with some more relaxing acoustic, jazz, folk and easy listening music on Sunday.
Inflatable Sculpture Garden (Sat/Sun)
This is an interesting one. Basically, you go along to the Gallery of Modern Art on Saturday, cut and stitch together some fabric and they’ll blow it up and display it in Royal Exchange Square on the Sunday. Led by artist Roos Dijkhuizen, this project is inspired by Niki de Saint Phalle’s wonderful exhibit currently housed at the GoMA.
Greyfriars Garden Open Day (Sat/Sun)
This green oasis in the heart of the Merchant City is part of the City Council’s Stalled Space Initiative. The Garden opened in June 2012 and has 39 raised beds most of which are only one metre square and features a beautiful wild flower meadow. This wonderful hidden space is definitely worth visiting.
The Rope Factory (Sat/Sun)
Inspired by The Commonwealth Games, the South Brunswick Street Rope Factory is an intricate web of colours representing the 71 sovereign states of the Commonwealth. Each country will be represented by one colour strand that will come together as one large map. Participants will pass through the maze following strands, finding information, sending messages to finally arrive as all the stands return together to form the map.
This really is only a small taste of everything that’s going on over the 5 days. If you’re planning on going along (and if not, why not?) then be sure to check out the official website of the festival for full listings. Let us know on Twitter or Facebook what you’re going along to, or if we’ve missed out any must-see events on our list above.
