Author: Anthony St. Clair

Festivals Bring Edinburgh Alive

From Rose Street to the Royal Mile, roaming crowds of tourists and flier-hawkers clog the veins of Edinburgh. Yet despite needing 20 minutes to walk the same distance as 10 used to suffice, the city thrives, pulses with a vibrancy that is understated or in hibernation much of the year.

Even at 11 on a Tuesday night was the city not just humming but singing, as attested by a few blocks’ walk, from Waverly train station on the East End of Princes Street, westward to the Mound. I caught a bus from there, cutting across the Mile and down George IV Bridge, just off. The Edinburgh Military Tattoo had finished and venues for the Festival Fringe had emptied; cafes and pubs had filled up – even on a Tuesday! – and queues at George IV bus stops stretched longer than two buses end-to-end.

My earlier walk had taken me past the gates at the eastern end of the Princes Street Gardens, but the police there did not trouble me. Festival time brings crowds, but even with the population of Edinburgh effectively doubling, the city, usually a safe place, remains so. With only minor elbowing I made my way through the people on the footpath, but then a glow in the Gardens caught my attention.

In addition to the Gardens’ central, permanent Ross Theatre, massive tents have been erected, and the Gardens’ usual nighttime black had been replaced by a massive tent that glowed purple. The usual nighttime emptiness had been replaced as well, with people who only now no longer flooded out of the Gardens’ entrances. They wandered down Princes Street to bus stops, or up towards the Mile for the cafes, pubs and clubs, many of which have extended their hours and liquor licenses – to one, three and five in the morning, respectively – for the duration of the Festival.

Festival, really, is a vague term, a condensing, for the sake of brevity, of eight goings-on. For months the city has prepared; for days and weeks the players and operators have arrived to set up and promote, and the tourists have arrived to walk and see and do. The warm-up began in late July, with the Jazz and Blues Festival – which ran through Aug. 6, the start of the Fringe – but now, after a couple of slow, rainy days, the party is on.

Yet for all the talk of Edinburgh’s festivals and concerts and general happenings, it is really the Fringe that is the focus. A three-week-long bunging together of music, drama, comedy and dance, the Fringe is where people from all over the world can witness some of tomorrow’s stars get their starts or first major recognitions. The Fringe is the hub; the other festivals, though brilliant, are more defined, more specific, less general; they are spokes on the wheel centered around the all-encompassing Fringe.

The Royal Mile has been pedestrianized for Festival time, and only the flier-hawkers and tourists may pass. The end of July began with trumpets, as early September will end with fireworks, but these next weeks will be filled with the guzzling of pints, the tramping of tourist feet down cobbled streets, the pressing of fliers for shows into potential punters’ hands. There will be applause, and dancing, and partying, from the morning until hours that no self-respecting hedonist would dare spend sleeping.

The Festival is on, and Edinburgh is alive.

Festive Times
The main difficulty with August’s festivals is seeing everything, yet not winding up with conflicting events and empty pockets. Programmes for all festivals are available from the Festival Fringe Office on the Royal Mile. More information can also be found at the festivals on-line and The Scotsman.

For the budget traveler, there are free events, concessions and enough madness running amok in the streets to tempt one even into leaving the pub. (The Scotsman, for example, has daily 2-for-1 ticket offers on a selection of that day’s shows.) Also talk to people on the streets.

Even if you aren’t interested in having a huge festive blow-out, see at least one or two events from each festival, if only for the increased merriment of your soul.

Here’s the quick list, but for contact details and short description,

click here.

Edinburgh Military Tattoo

August 4-26.

Festival Fringe
August 6-28.

International Book Festival
August 12-28.

54th International Film Festival
August 13-27.

Edinburgh International Festival
August 13-September 2.

Planet Pop Music Festival
August 5-30.

Bank of Scotland Fireworks Concert
September 2, 10:30 p.m.