It'll be a Beltane belter!

Published on Saturday 29 April 2006 14:49

EDINBURGH'S world-famous Beltane Fire Festival this weekend is set to be the biggest yet, with 10,000 people expected to attend the event.

The annual fire spectacular on Calton Hill has seen a boom in ticket sales, with a ten per cent increase on last year.

It is anticipated that 10,000 will attend the Beltane Fire Festival on Sunday night - more than any of the previous years since it became a ticketed event.

And the spectacle will have an international flavour for the first time, with a group of Austrian performers set to take part.

The festival has become a fixture of the Edinburgh events calendar since organisers struck a deal with the city council two years ago to lease Calton Hill for a night and charge an entry fee.

It had been cancelled in 2003 because council officials insisted it needed a public entertainment license after previous noise and litter problems. Since then, the Beltane Fire Society has taken over running the event and charges an entry fee, with tickets ranging from 3 to 5.

Organisers say that they need to charge because it costs around 35,000 to put the event on - and have warned that the price could rise next year as costs continue to increase.

They believe the increase in ticket sales is down to the profile of the event being raised after performers appeared on a VisitScotland TV advert, while extensive features were carried on the event in National Geographic magazine and on the Discovery Channel.

In total, more than 300 people, all volunteers, will entertain the crowds from 9pm, with a range of entertainment on offer, including drumming, fire acts, revelry and a procession around Calton Hill.

John Clark, a performer and member of the Beltane Fire Society committee, is confident that this year's festival will be the biggest yet. He said:

"We've raised the profile of the event in the last year and featuring on The Discovery Channel has really helped raise interest.

"The fact that we've got a group of Austrian performers, Fenfire, here for the first time shows how well known the event is across Europe. But costs have gone up again this year and the ticket price is only just helping us meet the costs, so we'll need to look at the costs next year and see if the current ticket price is enough.

"We are a not-for-profit organisation, so that helps. There is no immediate threat to the event's future."

Despite the problems before it became ticketed, organisers have impressed council officials in recent years.

Councillor Ricky Henderson, the city's culture and leisure leader, admitted that organisers had done well to cope with past problems. He said: "Beltane has been around for a while now and they have learned from past problems.

"Balancing the interests of the local residents with the people who attend is now done much more successfully. It is one of the more unusual events on the city's calendar and I hope it is again very successful.

"The festival marks the passing of winter, which is a Pagan tradition about farming and rural life, and that is well worth celebrating. The warmer weather and brighter nights are certainly something to celebrate."

Ben Carter, the Lothians director at VisitScotland, who this week launched the advert that features the Fire Festival as part of a 12 million marketing campaign, said: "The ancient ritual of welcoming in the summer and driving out the winter through the use of fire and drums is a visually stunning and hugely energetic event and represents the diversity of events taking place in Edinburgh during the summer."