{"id":24172,"date":"2025-07-03T14:10:31","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T13:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/?p=24172"},"modified":"2025-07-03T14:10:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T13:10:31","slug":"orangefest-celebrations-return-to-belfast-city-hall-on-july-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2025\/07\/orangefest-celebrations-return-to-belfast-city-hall-on-july-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Orangefest Celebrations Return To Belfast City Hall On July 12"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DSC_6345-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-24173\" src=\"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DSC_6345-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A whole host of family fun activities is set to take place at Belfast\u2019s City Hall on Saturday 12th July as part of this year\u2019s Orangefest celebrations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Running from 10am to 3.30pm, Orangefest 2025 has been designed to complement the 335th annual demonstration of the Battle of the Boyne, offering a packed programme of family-friendly events and entertainment in the heart of the city.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Established in 2007, Orangefest continues to enhance the well-known Twelfth parades with a wide range of inclusive and engaging activities for all ages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This year\u2019s festival features a vibrant international food market organised by Food NI on the East Lawn of City Hall, showcasing the very best in local and international cuisine, alongside live cooking demonstrations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Adding to the buzz will be award-winning street theatre and performers from Circusful, bringing stilt walkers, mono wheel acrobatics, drummers from around the world, clowns, and circus skills to entertain both children and adults throughout the day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Belfast County Grand Master Spencer Beattie said the team behind Orangefest are \u201cproud to be bringing back a day of celebration, community and culture for 2025.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">He said: \u201cThis year, we once again want to encourage families, visitors and locals to stay and enjoy the city centre. Orangefest is all about creating a welcoming and inclusive environment that supports both cultural expression and local business.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cMany city centre retailers have committed to staying open from 1pm to 5pm, and we would urge those attending to support local traders and enjoy what Belfast has to offer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In addition to the family activities, guided tours of Belfast City Hall will be available throughout the day, offering visitors a chance to explore the city\u2019s heritage and iconic architecture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A short remembrance service and wreath-laying will take place at 10.30am at the Belfast War Memorial to honour the fallen of the two world wars and subsequent conflicts, coinciding with the parade passing City Hall.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Street dressings and display banners by Image Zoo will add further colour to the city centre, creating a vibrant visual backdrop to the celebrations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mr Beattie added: \u201cOrangefest enhances the globally recognised Belfast 12th which is considered one of the largest events in Europe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cAs part of our new three-year plan to create a year-round cultural engagement programme the activities at City Hall not only highlights the cultural significance of the day but also promotes unity and economic growth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThrough Orangefest, we aim to remove barriers, foster mutual respect, and create a positive and inclusive environment for all citizens and visitors.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>For more information go to <\/i><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.belfastorangefest.com\"><b><i>belfastorangefest.com<\/i><\/b><\/a><b><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A whole host of family fun activities is set to take place at Belfast\u2019s City Hall on Saturday 12th July as part of this year\u2019s Orangefest celebrations. Running from 10am to 3.30pm, Orangefest 2025 has been designed to complement the 335th annual demonstration of the Battle of the Boyne, offering a packed programme of family-friendly &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2025\/07\/orangefest-celebrations-return-to-belfast-city-hall-on-july-12\/\">Continued<\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24172"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24174,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24172\/revisions\/24174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}