Banarasgiri turns Varanasi's streets into a festival of craft, food and music

Over the past year a community-led street festival called Banarasgiri has been quietly reshaping how Varanasi celebrates itself. First held in 2025, the event has already run several editions, spilling out of auditoriums and into the city's public spaces — footpaths, parks and neighbourhood corners turned into open cultural grounds for a weekend at a time. The idea is simple: bring the city's living traditions into the open and let everyone join in. Recent editions have featured local artisans demonstrating pottery, handloom weaving, carpet-making and glass-bead work; stalls of Banarasi street food from chaat and chai to kulfi and litti-chokha; live folk music; and even akhada (traditional wrestling-ground) workshops. Alongside the celebration run quieter public services — children's creative zones, meditation and wellness sessions, and free health check-ups. What makes Banarasgiri stand out is that residents themselves power it. Artisans, performers, food vendors, NGOs and volunteers come together, giving craftspeople a fresh audience and younger Banarasis a hands-on link to traditions they might otherwise only read about. For visitors, catching an edition is a warm, unfiltered way to meet the city beyond the ghats — Kashi celebrating Kashi, out in the open.

Compiled by HelloBanaras from public sources: Indian Masterminds