Festival to mark St Andrew's Day

Published on Wednesday 23 September 2009 22:00

A FIVE-day festival is to be held across Scotland for the nation's biggest-ever St Andrew's Day celebrations.

More than 40 events, including open-air concerts, fashion shows, street parties, parades and firework displays, are planned over 26-30 November.

The festivities will be promoted around the world to help ensure a successful send-off for the Scottish Government's Year of Homecoming.

VisitScotland, EventScotland and local authorities around the country have put together the programme just four years after official St Andrew's Day festivities were staged for the first time.

The likes of Greenock, Alloa, Paisley, Haddington, Kilmarnock, Dumfries, Inverurie, Irvine and Blairgowrie are now all hosting major events, with some 400,000 from the official Homecoming budget being spent on the programme.

Highlights are expected to include a fireworks display over Strathclyde Country Park, an attempt to stage the world's biggest "Virginia Reel" in Alloa, an illuminated car parade through the heart of historic Edinburgh and a ceilidh on the Kirkintilloch canal.

Some of the biggest events include a showcase of Scotland's music at the SECC in Glasgow, a celebration of Gaelic culture at Inverness's Eden Court Theatre, a "winter light night" in Dundee city centre and a sound and light spectacular in St Andrews itself.

A new four-day musical festival is being held in Giffnock, Greenock's Custom House Quay will host an outdoor concert, Paisley will be hosting a "baby ceilidh", and a celebration of Scotland's food will be held across the Borders.