The second Ebbsfleet Fusion Festival took place in Platinum Jubilee Park on Saturday 8th July. The family themed festival was produced by Cohesion Plus in partnership with Ebbsfleet Development Corporation. Local residents turned out in their hundreds to enjoy a jam packed programme that put a spotlight on wellbeing and entertainment.
Civic guests including Deputy Lieutenant Rosemary Dymond, Mayor of Dartford Cllr Roseanna Curran and Cllr Jeremy Kite MBE the Leader of Dartford Borough Council were in attendance to meet and greet with the festival attendees.
There was a mind blowing artistic programme boasting the likes of musical performances from Jason Allen, a smooth jazz and pop singer who sang fan favourites, Bloco Fogo Samba who brought the sound of the Brazilian Carnival to Castle Hill and No Limit Street Band, a roaming brass and percussion band who performed pop smash hits in their classic brass style. Also wowing the crowds were the majestic Dancing Maharajas, a troupe of traditional Bhangra dancers who were accompanied by a life size mechanical elephant by the name of Harminder. The performances were further supplemented by a full programme of off stage acts such as the Jolly Dizzy clown act, street jugglers and stilt walkers.
There were also free activities including face painting, dance workshops produced by Loop Dance Company, football workshops by Ebbsfleet United, yoga sessions, pirate and princess workshops and a walk about dinosaur puppet shows with life size, interactive baby dinosaurs!
Food from around the world was also on offer with traders from the Ebbsfleet area offering mouth-watering cuisine such as Afro-Caribbean curries and jerk chicken, to Indian samosas and kebab wraps, burgers and hotdogs, delicious home baked cakes and cookies as well as ice cream, slush and coffee.
Attendees were also able to participate in a designated community area where they could interact with special arts projects produced by young people, local businesses, and an NHS tea tent that was fundraising for the NHS, as well as speak with Ebbsfleet development consultants on how they would like their neighbourhoods to be shaped in the future.
Gurvinder Sandher MBE the Artistic Director of Cohesion Plus commented “We are so incredibly proud of what we were able to achieve today with the second Ebbsfleet Fusion Festival in Platinum Jubilee Park. Temperatures were high and even the short spell of intense rain couldn’t stop everyone from coming down to be entertained by the amazing line up of artists, activity and food we had on offer today. We are very thankful to the local residents who came out and supported us. Our aim was always to put on a fun family themed event that at its heart had wellbeing at its core. I think we had more than achieved that and we are grateful to our partners Ebbsfleet Development Corporation for all their support and encouragement. We really hope to put on another Fusion Festival next year as well as other events throughout the year.