The Delhi Park Pageant

This summer, The Department of Illumination is brings back The Delhi Pageant, their theatrical love letter to Delhi Park. Originally produced in 2025, it was the culmination of the company’s summer-long residency in Picton’s largest green space, Delhi Park. Based out of their vibrant solar-powered mobile studio, the artists papier-mâchéd masks, painted banners and sewed costumes in the great outdoors, all the while listening to bird song, chatting with the public, and pausing to help turtles cross the road.

The Delhi Pageant is a large-scale community spectacle that weaves together art, music and performances to create a stunning, immersive celebration of Delhi Park’s past, present and future. This year’s Pageant has a cast of 40 community members, mostly adults, but also a group of children dancing to choreography by Allison Nichol. The production features original music by Annelise Noronha, Lisa Bozikovic and Sam Hirst, and features the ABC Choir. The script was written by the company’s Artistic Director, Krista Dalby, who directs the production as well. Dalby worked with Erica Gray, Mohawk Wolf Clan from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, to bring a Kanyen’kehá:ka perspective to the script.

Nestled between two ridges, bordered by cemeteries and split by a creek leading to Picton Harbour, Delhi Park is a place with a history as complex as its landscape. Once a former garbage dump and current home to a wastewater facility, the park is now a pastoral retreat with vast fields and mature woodlands which are home to a remarkable assortment of wildlife.

The Delhi Park Pageant takes place Saturday August 22nd, 2026 starting at 6 PM. Admission is free, although donations are welcome. If driving use the Lalor Street entrance, performance will take place across from the community gardens. Rain date is Sunday August 23.

Learn more here.