Edinburgh Festival Carnival provided an invitation to dance our blues away – Steve Cardownie

At last! I was lucky to be able to see the Edinburgh Festival Carnival which was part of the Jazz and Blues Festival last Sunday and it was great to see throngs of spectators enjoying this colourful spectacle.

Performers parade along Princes Street during the Edinburgh Festival Carnival (Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

The Jazz and Blues Festival continues to offer a fantastic programme of international music which is the envy of cities throughout the UK. Now well underway, it continues to attract audiences, young and old, who delight in seeing old favourites as well as new additions to the musical extravaganza.

The city can now look forward to the summer festivals which have been in hibernation for the last couple of years.

Edinburgh’s cultural offering in the summer months is beyond compare and is enjoyed and overwhelmingly welcomed by city residents.

Despite some naysayers who rely on anecdotal so-called ‘evidence’ to the contrary, the facts prove that Edinburgh residents are proud of their festivals and believe that they make Edinburgh a better place to live.

This view should be enhanced by the decisions of the major festivals to spread their events throughout the city and not confine them to restricted areas where overcrowding has proven to be a problem.

Fringe performers, in particular, should pop up in places where the public have a better chance of spectating and enjoying their shows.

The return of the Royal Military Tattoo has been much anticipated and promises to pick up where it left off with a spectacular programme of music and dance. The sight of the massed pipes and drums leaving the esplanade at the close of the event to the echoes of “the Black Bear” is a sight and sound to behold for Scots and international visitors alike.

For me, this is Edinburgh at its best. Awash with performers – both international and domestic – the city puts out the welcome mat and prepares to greet the kind of numbers of visitors which should make any resident proud that so many people have chosen to come to their city.

So put on your dancing shoes and dance the blues away. You might never pass this way again!