MORE THAN 8000 PEOPLE ATTEND COMMUNITY FESTIVAL
North Edinburgh Community Festival held its 2nd festival this year on Saturday 13th May with a record number of people attending this scorching day!
Not only were the numbers high on the thermostat but also for the amount of attendees. Over 8000 people attended the festival at West Pilton Park which is becoming THE community festival to attend in Edinburgh.
The festival provides a fun, free, family day out for new and existing residents to enjoy – promoting opportunities, creativity, enhancing community cohesion, reducing social isolation and celebrating the diversity of the area.
The Festival took place for the first time in May 2022 with an attendance of 6000 people and this year we hit the 8000 attendance mark.
This year, we had over 80 locally based organisations and community groups offering stalls, activities and workshops.
There was interactions available on most stalls like Draw your dream home, hair braiding, face painting and glitter tattoos.
North Edinburgh Arts provided the arts element with creative sessions, dance, park rangers, and HAT HAT HAT Theatre Performances with Imaginate, Edinburgh’s International Childrens Festival and the young people from Forthview Primary School.
Around the park, the festival was bustling with all sorts of family friendly activities such as
- Busking Bike Street Science with Edinburgh Science Festival
- Granton and Muirhouse Mobile Library
- Horses with EdinEqui Centre
- Parkour climbing frame with Access Parkour
- Rugby with Inverleith Rugby Club and football with Spartans Community Football Academy
- Assault Course with the British Army and Obstacle Course with the Royal Navy
One of our core aims is to provide as much free food as possible. This year with thanks to RRT (Rapid Relief Team) we gave away 1500 burgers, Kings Church Street Café handing out over 1000 cups of tea, coffee and hot chocolate, free chocolate bars from Mackies of Scotland and over 1000 packets of Scottish Porridge Oats from Hamlyns of Scotland.
There was also free pizza from The Space at Broomhouse in collaboration with Ooni Pizza ovens, as well as many stalls like Pilton Equalities Project and DCLM Scotland handing out free food, baked goods and juices.
There were a few more food vans who sold food for £5 or less including Scranvan, who sold over 1000 hotdogs, The Chick Kings, Project Esperanza and Lolas selling tea, coffee and waffles.
A large communal stretch marquee took centre place in the park as a gathering space for people to eat, drink, relax and enjoy the festival as well as providing much needed shade!
Lyndon Cane, the Rapid Relief Team’s Local Team Leader in Edinburgh, said: “The Rapid Relief Team was delighted to support the North Edinburgh Community Festival in what was a fantastic event for the local community.
“With the support of our exceptional volunteers from the Davidsons Mains and South Queensferry area, we prepared over 1,500 burgers free of charge during the Festival as part of our shared values for reducing social isolation and enhancing community cohesion.
“Preparing nutritious food forms part of the Rapid Relief Team’s wider charitable mission which puts compassion into action. We work with emergency services, charities, NGOs and many more organisations to help those in need, including through our hot food provision and delivering thousands of bespoke Food Boxes to vulnerable families and children.
“We look forward to seeing the Festival go from strength to strength, with the 2024 event promising the build on the success of this year’s Festival!”
We had two stages this year – the main park stage as well as the Green Room stage located inside the West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre.
Performances included Ama-zing Harmonies, Rai Williams, The Mockingjays and Laurent, all performers and young people are from local groups and schools. Pulse of Place led the parade to the park, then it was time for Fischy Music and a sing-along.
Organised by local charity Low Income Families Together (LIFT), the Festival parade brought together around 250 local families and young people to parade from the Muirhouse Millennium Centre to the Park to launch the Festival. The theme this year was Disney – and what a splendid array of costumes on show as well as hundreds of Mickey Mouse ears!
This festival is a much needed community gathering in North Edinburgh and we could not have put on such a fantastic day without all the organisations, charities, volunteers, young people and individuals who helped pull this all together, and of course a massive thank you to everyone who attended!
Also our sponsors are most important because without them we really couldn’t have supplied anything to put the festival on.
Thank you to CEC Local Cultural Festivals and Events Fund, Police Scotland, National Lottery Awards for All, West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre, Muirhouse Housing Association, Edinburgh College, Scotmid, Nancy Massie Trust, Forth Neighbourhood Network, Mcleod Trust and Manor Housing.
Next years festival will take place on Saturday 11th May 2024, 12 .-530pm, West Pilton Park.
2023 Feedback:
“I just want to pass on my kindest regards and a big “thank you” too, you and your team for everything you all did for us at your Community Festival. Your team were there for us, throughout the day. I have received nothing but very encouraging comments from all of my team. A most enjoyable, very busy fantastic day for all. (Amazing community spirit).”
“It was a beautiful day and we truly enjoyed performing, watching other performances, and visiting stalls.”
“Thank you so much for having us at the festival today. Was a fab day and really enjoyed meeting so many people”
“I just wanted to say thanks so much for having the Book Festival as part of your festival on Saturday. We had such a great time and our writers group really enjoyed performing their stories to families. The book bags I brought down were gone in a matter of minutes – I’ll know for next time to bring 1000 rather than 100! “
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