We always knew we liked Scotland. The beer is good, the castles are gorgeous, the food is…edible. Even those bagpipes start to grow on you after a while. (Click here to see my New England boys The Stuart Highlanders playing in the world piping finals across the Atlantic.)
From Sean Connery to the battle that inspired Braveheart, you’d think this place has done enough good over the last century to last them well into this one.
But these people, bless their hearts, will not stop giving. That’s why, a few months back, they announced plans to put on the U.K.’s first ever national busking festival.
We should note that this doesn’t mean it’s the first event of its kind ever, just the first one to be put on with the support of an entire nation. (Although “the support of an entire nation” is probably more aspirational than actual – a sentiment that should be commended but taken with a pinch of salt.)
The Organizers
For the optimism and perseverance, we can thank organizer Barry McDonald (literally, you can tweet at him here). Together with Loving Food’s Stewart Pleace, the festival veteran has done a brilliant job with social media and marketing, saying that he “hopes the festival will enjoy a similar atmosphere to [Fringe] in Edinburgh,” (one of his long-standing arts festivals, which we’ll be covering from the ground later this summer).
Pleace added, “Barry and I are driven by a passion to bring fresh, quality and intriguing events for people from all walks of life and to get people engaged with city centres and their community.”
The City
The plan came to fruition last weekend, in a wonderful little city called Stirling.
The whole thing kick off with an opening gala—a ticketed event featuring “some of the top busking talent to grace the streets of Stirling”—on Friday night, and culminated in an awards ceremony on Saturday.
The Winners
Three Point Compass won the honor for best group, while Amy Gunn and Rubicon were awarded prizes for solo performance (for ‘best solo’ and ‘under 16’, respectively). To round off the night, the first ever best busker crown was placed—despite stiff competition—on the head of Struan Garry, a singer/guitarist from Spain.
An array of other buskers—including guys like Barney Bridges and Nick Cheyne, among many others—performed in three ‘hubs’ around the city all throughout the weekend. Song choice, volume, and set length was all up to them, so it varied from artist to artist.
Crowds moved between the different stages all day, and took enough pictures to fill ten albums. We’ve tried to feature the best of what we could find here, but check the event’s Facebook page or its full-page spread in the Stirling daily news for more.
Though we couldn’t be there, it seems that the National Busking Festival was a tremendous success. Looking forward to next year!