This August Bank Holiday Sunday (25 Aug), Culture Mile presents Smithfield Street Party: A Beastly Adventure, a fantastical free street party where the animal stop the bill, curated by the Museum of London.
Learn how to dance like a bee, look up and watch extraordinary aerialists fly through the sky, transform your perspectives with free-running classes and animal amusements and learn how to care for the animals that live alongside us.
In this year’s take on Culture Mile’s annual festival, all London’s animals – past, present or future, large and small, rare and familiar – will be taking over the streets around Smithfield Market for one day only to teach humans the secret ways of their world.
Imagined, visible or overlooked, larger than life or minuscule, all the animals will make an appearance at an unmissable party full of music, performances, workshops,games and play with 10,000 human party animals in one of Smithfield’s wildest events of the year. Inspired by the original Bartholomew’s Fair and the Museum of London and Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s Beasts of London experience, Smithfield Street Party invites all of London’s families, including their four legged canine members, to come and take part in a day full of free beastly fun.
“Smithfield Street Party: A Beastly Adventure will continue the fun and strong sense of community from last year’s celebration of the 150th anniversary of Smithfield Market and is the culmination of Play the Mile, Culture Mile’s first season of extended activity. This annual event brings together people from all walks of life and takes us one step closer to realising our ambition to redefine the Square Mile – already established as a leading global financial centre – as a world-class destination for culture, heritage and creativity.”
“This is definitely the year of the Beasts! We cannot wait to take over the historic Smithfield streets once again and put on a wild street party like no other.Just down the road from where the new Museum of London will be in a few years,this is a wonderful example of how Culture Mile partners and the Smithfield Markets Tenants Association can come together to put on a truly spectacular,free show for Londoners and visitors in the heart of the City. Bring your family, friends and your dogs to enjoy free fun, festivities and food for one day only.”
“The Young Coneys is an opportunity for young people to come together and make things for others, especially grownups, to play.We are very excited to share our work with the party animals of Smithfield Street Party: A Beastly Adventure this August. Members of The Young Coneys will join in the wild fun by parading through the festival with their creative and unique self-made puppets,mighty megaphones and roaring great puns to help spark a conversation about how we might each be able to help the animals we share our world with.“
Smithfield Street Party: A Beastly Adventure is the culmination of Play the Mile, Culture Mile’s first extended season of activity, which takes place from 18 May – 25 August. There is something for everyone and it is free to all with 2,000 years of history colliding across two new outdoor spaces, ten new site specific music commissions, twenty-five unique venues to explore, and fifty free regular performances all celebrating the value of play and creativity in everyday life.
