Barking Riverside's free festival celebrating community, creativity and nature.

Returning to Barking Riverside in September 2025.

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About Emerge East

Visitors were invited to experience culinary delights with ‘A Taste of Barking Riverside - The Home Cooks’ where local people became street food vendors for a day, sharing their beloved family recipes or trialling a new yet perfected dish for an eager and appreciative lunchtime crowd.

Emerge East returned for its 3rd year on Saturday 7th September 2024, to Barking Riverside, between 11am - 7pm. This free festival was a celebration of community, creativity and nature, and offered an exciting day out discovering one of East London’s newest neighbourhoods.

Sauna Master UK, in collaboration with Community Sauna Baths of Hackney and Stratford, brought their Wild Sauna concept to one of East London’s most idyllic Riverside locations. guests were invited to enjoy the revitalising benefits of deep heat, cold contrast, and soothing steam, all while overlooking the iconic River Thames as well as complimentary massage and sound baths throughout the day, providing a deeper level to visitors’ wellness experience.

The event also featured creative workshops for the whole family, an independent Makers Market showcasing local talent and thriving businesses, and a variety of food, drink, performances, walks, talks, wellness workshops, music, and more. Don't miss out on return of this vibrant celebration of an emerging community in September 2025.

Enjoy all the feel-good benefits of deep heat, cold contrast and delicious steam in this pop-up riverside spa.
You'll be guided by trained sauna experts from the British Sauna Society during your hosted session offering leaf whisking, aufguss, body treatments and more.
Presented by Creative Barking and Dagenham, in partnership with Barking Riverside Limited (BRL) and with the support of Riverside School.
A special addition to this year's line-up was Arborialis Luminarium – a large immersive artwork by Architects of Air. Entering the Luminarium surrounded you in a rainbow of colour and calming sound where visitors could explore its maze of winding paths and soaring domes.
The free creative workshops all day workshops are a great option for all the family to get involved with. You could design a seed pot with Cella Collective's pop-up ceramic studio, kindly supported by Bellway London. Help build a Windmill entirely out of wood waste with Woodland Tribe or create a flag that celebrates the local area using off cuts of screen printed fabrics with artist Lucy Grainge. As well as the Poetry Takeaway where a talented team of poets were on deck to craft a free, personalised poem just for you. Kindly supported by L&Q.
From wellness products to children's books, jewellery to smoothies, we transformed Barking Riverside's Station Square into our Emerging Makers' Market.
A place for local traders and independent makers' to showcase their products for one day to residents and visitors alike for some carefully curated retail therapy.
UD is a London-based music organisation bringing communities together around Black music and Black music culture, positioned in station square, guests were invited to enjoy artists from their DJ Collective throughout the day and even give DJing a go with their free drop-in DJ workshops.
Grab something delicious to eat from our street food traders!
Or grab drinks at the bar to rehydrate with your mates, sit back, relax and take in all the action at Station Square.