Celebrating the success of our winter festivals - Val Walker

Councillor Val Walker

While we were all very disappointed that the outdoor events at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay could not take place due to the inclement weather, we’ve been clear throughout that public safety is our number one priority. This was not a decision taken lightly but on balance it was the correct course of action and had unanimous support from the council, event organisers and the emergency services.

I’m glad that all of the indoor programme at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay went ahead with thousands of people enjoying events like Swamplesque at Assembly Hall, the Idlewild concert at the Assembly Rooms, the Bairns New Year Revels and New Year Revels at the Assembly Rooms, and Candlelit Concert at St Giles’ Cathedral.

The sold-out Hot Dub Time Machine concert also went ahead at Assembly Hall, having originally been due to take place in Princes Street Gardens. There was also a packed First Footin’ and Sprogmanay programme of events on New Year’s Day – a series of free and ticketed indoor music gigs across the city centre, Leith and Portobello.

Edinburgh has been staging a Hogmanay festival since 1993. Picture: Keith Valentine

Spreading these celebrations further outwith the city centre has been a priority for a number of years and it’s clear that this is taking shape. This has been a good start, but we are expecting more areas of the city to be involved in future years.

I’m looking forward to seeing the full review with total visitor numbers and economic impact for 2024 - but our Winter Festivals remain a staple of the city’s social, cultural and economic calendar. They consistently deliver tens of millions of pounds for our city every year with visitors and residents enjoying the wide array of activities and events on offer.

Visitors to city centre attractions at Edinburgh’s Christmas 2024 exceeded 2.8 million which just goes to show its enduring popularity and appeal. Over 600 people are directly employed to create Edinburgh’s Christmas which shows the scale of this operation. At the Edinburgh’s Christmas markets there were over 80 stalls, with over 75 per cent operated by businesses from Edinburgh and Scotland. We’re committed that our residents and businesses are able to reap the benefits of our Winter Festivals.

Another key element of our celebrations is that they should be open to all regardless of economic circumstances. I’m pleased that over 160 community groups and charities havebeen gifted over 8000 tickets and tokens to attractions as part of the Edinburgh’s Christmas Communities Initiative. A further 108 tickets were also issued as community raffle prizes and winter windows winner prizes. This has benefited both large and small charities ranging from organisations such as Cyrenians, Make-A-Wish UK, North Edinburgh Arts, Refugee Action Scotland to community and youth groups in Oxgangs, Drylaw, Portobello, Granton and beyond.

We’ve been working hard over the past few years in making our Winter Festivals more balanced, sustainable, and inclusive for residents and visitors alike. In 2021 we undertook an extensive consultation on the future of the Winter Festivals. This showed overwhelming support, with 86 per cent of respondents saying that they should continue. We also agreed to look at spreading the celebrations more widely across the city, whilst enhancing community benefits, sustainability and accessibility.

I believe that we have made good progress on these commitments this year and it’s encouraging to hear from residents who have taken advantage of our offer this festive season. We’ll continue to listen to their views and work with the event organisers going forward.

When deciding on the conditions for a new Winter Festivals delivery contract last year, it was particularly important to the Committee that we would have the option at three years to review the contract. This will allow us to take on board this key feedback from residents, colleagues and the event organisers to maintain and improve our Winter Festivals.

A huge amount of work has gone into the planning and delivery of this year’s events. I would like to thank our council colleagues, Unique Assembly and our other event partners for their continued efforts especially over what has been a challenging period.

Wishing you all the best for 2025.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Cllr Val Walker​, Culture and Communities Committee Convener