It's Fringe time - and Lady Boys are here

An estimated 160,000 people crammed into the streets of the Capital yesterday to watch the Fringe Festival Cavalcade, an annual jamboree that mixes theatre acts with Scots tradition, and marks the launch of the Fringe.

"I live in Edinburgh, and I can't resist the pipes and drums and bagpipes," said Hugh Somerville, watching the passing parade with his two children. "I try to come every year. It's the same old thing, but it's fun."

Alma Power, also from Edinburgh, said she enjoyed watching several youth drama groups in the parade. But she added: "As ever, the highlight for me has to be the Lady Boys. They are just really colourful."

The Fringe kicked off officially yesterday after several days of launch events and previews. The mood among big venue managers was buoyant amid signs of a strong opening weekend and several shows already coasting to sell-outs.

The Assembly venue, with theatres on George Street and the 800 Assembly Hall on the Royal Mile, said it had sold 97,000 tickets by last Friday - more than the entire number it sold in 1999. The comedian Russell Brand was an early sell-out, along with Pam Ayres, the "people's poet" playing the Fringe for the first time.

Comedians Jason Byrne and Danny Bhoy look set to join them, along with shows such as Best of the Fest.

At the Pleasance, another major venue, comedian Simon Amstell is close to selling out, along with Ella Meets Marilyn, starring Sally Lindsay and Rain Pryor. The Underbelly is seeing nightly sell-outs for One Man Star Wars, among other shows.

The weekend saw some openings of much-anticipated plays, including Black Watch, from the National Theatre of Scotland, with a stark look at a group of Scottish soldiers serving in Iraq.

The 60th Edinburgh Fringe is the biggest in its history, with the ever-growing event now featuring 16,990 performers in 1,867 shows at 261 venues.

The Festival Cavalcade has long been a big pull for Edinburgh families, and yesterday was no exception. It was led off by growling Moto Guzzi Trikings (three-wheeled cycle cars), Harley Davidsons and Gold Wing motorbikes.

They were followed by the entire cast of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, with international performers including the Royal Army Band of Chile.

There were some 3,000 marchers in total, ranging from a fleet of vintage cars to groups of bulging bellydancers. The Pakistan Army Band, marching for the Edinburgh Mela, was one of half a dozen belting out Scotland the Brave.

Aniek Roesink, a Dutch intern working in Edinburgh, said: "It's my day off. It's a lucky thing that I can experience this."

The Cavalcade is organised separately from the Fringe, with a more traditional feel., As well as groups such as the Tay Valley Twirlers and the Linlithgow Reed Band, there were youth theatre groups, from the American High School Theatre Festival, and the Wyoming Schools Dancing Band, the Forth Children's Theatre, and the Yorkshire School of Performing Arts.

Fringe acts included the Lady Boys, a summer institution in their tent on the Meadows, and the Korean martial arts comedy group Jump, back for a second year.

Corona beer brought a double-decker bus while the Chinese spiritual movement Falun Gong was represented by an elaborate float and marchers bearing the words "truthfulness", "compassion" and "forbearance".

The Edinburgh dancing group the Mirage Arabic Dancers was one of two sets of bellydancers. The Chemical Ceilidh, meanwhile, saw a group of chemists from Edinburgh and Keele universities holding a train of giant molecules aloft, showing the chemical compounds for tartan dye, the flavour of whisky, fatty acid and the iron used in Irn Bru.