Stroud’s Bank Gardens will become a meeting place for global music, food and culture on Saturday 5 September, when a free family festival invites residents to explore international traditions and conversations about issues affecting communities around the world.
The Global Awareness Day will run from 11am to 4pm, with families encouraged to bring a picnic. Organisers say the event will combine live performances, talks, activities, crafts, stalls, food and films, while examining how global challenges can have local effects.
Parade and live music
The day will begin with a colourful parade through Stroud at 11am. It will start at Bank Gardens and be led by Street Beats Samba. The Red Band is due to play in the gardens from 10.30am, helping to launch the parade before the main programme gets under way.
From midday, Stroud Love Music Hate Racism and Global Beats will present One Love, described as a musical celebration of multiculturalism. The line-up includes Simbora Samba Band and Albino Tarantino, as well as DJs playing music from around the world.
Styles listed for the event include Bhangra, reggae, Latin, Arabic and Baltic music. DJs named in the event information include Jag P, LMSKN, Sauce and DJ Shaybae.
Conversation, culture and community action
The event is organised by the Stroud District Coalition for a Just Peace in Palestine. Its stated aims are to encourage curiosity and conversation, raise awareness of interconnected global issues, mobilise support for positive action in the local community, and promote a more peaceful and just society.
Alongside the entertainment, visitors will be able to take part in activities and crafts, browse stalls, listen to talks and watch films. The organisers present the day as an opportunity to celebrate multicultural music and culture while considering the links between international events and people’s lives locally.
Entry to Bank Gardens is free. The source gives the garden programme as running from 11am to 6pm, while describing the wider Global Awareness Day as taking place from 11am to 4pm.
Reggae afterparty at Lansdown Hall
The celebrations will continue after the daytime event with a reggae afterparty at community venue Lansdown Hall. The Resident Roots Reggae Sound Clash is scheduled to run from 9pm until 1am.
Unlike the Bank Gardens event, the afterparty is ticketed. Tickets are priced between £8 and £10 and can be bought through the Lansdown Hall website or via the Ticketpass event page supplied by the organisers.
The event was reported by Stroud Times in material dated September 2026, with the article stating that the festival would take place on Saturday 5 September.
