The story
Baishakhi Mela Barishal in Barishal
Barishal's Pohela Boishakh fairs, including the long-running Bakaler Mela tradition, favor open riverside or banyan-tree grounds over a single fixed city venue, with stalls of handicrafts and pottery, panta bhat and fried hilsa, and a civic morning programme layered on top. It is a smaller, river-town alternative to Dhaka's large-scale New Year fair, with a stronger rural-market character.
Barishal's Boishakhi Mela draws on a much older regional tradition than the modern city calendar suggests: fairs such as the Bakaler Mela in the district have operated as rural market gatherings since at least the twentieth century, long before Pohela Boishakh became a civic holiday.