After the Great Bizzard of the First Day came the Great Tempest of the Second and the Great Flood of the Third........the rain and wind came on Saturday evening - the good side was that the rain melted the snow - but the tricky bit was that the combined meltwater and rain swelled the Nith to bursting point and the Whitesands were flooded.
But Dumfries hung tough and the band played on......
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| All too familiar view of the Whitesands 27th Jan 2013 |
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| The Crossing sculpture shows the level the high water level the Nith reached through the night |
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| The Speigel Tent survived the Blizzard, Tempest and Flood - folk arriving for Mongolian group Anda Union 3pm Sunday |
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| The Art Vending Machine - photo Karen Dick |
There will be a time for calm reflection no doubt - but for now lets celebrate the sheer ambition and bravado of this young festival and not forget that this is just the second year. There may be case in the future to rethink the extent of outdoor programming and concentrate more on innovative indoor venues (Speigeltent is genius..)....but in the meantime there is still dancing to be done.
Well, well – can’t wait to see how Creative Scotland are planning to wriggle out of this one……my committed young artist friend says they knew all about the Bible prophecy all along and the whole thing is a giant insurance scam to boost the pension pots of that nasty Mr Dixon and Ms Dhupa.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile back in civilisation I have spent the afternoon at the new show at the The Third Eye Centre (never could get on with the CCA name – bit like calling the Light Programme 'Radio 4'….nasty and cheap) anyway ECONOMY is an exhibition project that aims to generate constructive public discussion on how the economy impacts upon life. It addresses issues that range from migration, labour, sexuality and the crisis of democracy to the quest for alternative futures. And all this through the simple means of some photographs by committed young artist folk on the walls of a building visited by only committed young artist folk – genius these young committed artist folk…..love em to bits. And you know the really clever bit, the public money spent creating this show will boost the careers of the committed young artist folk so that commercial galleries can then sell the work at international art fairs….and that is ‘Economy’….and that my little furry Provincial friends is called irony and that is super, super clever (and crucially there is free Wifi in the CCA and nice coffee and a roof…..)
So, so sorry you all drowned in Dumfries
No idea where the dancing was being done. I was in Dumfries from 1.30pm on Sunday. Spiegelgarden deserted and looked like a bombsite, with the exception of the Spiegeltent, into which we were not allowed in (act starting in an hour's time etc.) Nothing on at the enormous stage construction at the Midsteeple. Not one single helpful festival person who could give us any guidance on what to do, or even direct us to the fabled art vending machine. All 'cancelled', no apologies, and I was unwilling to part with the best part of £100 for 5 of us to see the Mongilian band. Admin fees on door sales of tickets?
ReplyDeleteDear God, Dumfries, surely you can do better than this? Are you honestly telling me that the organisers had no contingency for snow, wind and rain in South West Scotland in January? And surely choosing a main site should have involved the possibility of the Whitesands flooding?
Hugely disappointed by the whole thing - what a waste of public, and sponsors, money. So much could have been successfully done, weather or no. Bad, bad planning.
So, was it Rabbie Burns Spiegel World? Not from where I was standing. Town more deserted than it usually is on a Sunday.
Which was, of course, Holocaust Memorial Day. Not considered, I presume?
Well it wasn't just us and the others had higher financial impacts.
ReplyDeleteAnd besides it was the wrong sort of snow.
The M6 is closed between southbound between junction 27 at Wigan and junction 25 following a severe snow storm, while the northbound carriageway is also reported to be closed.
North Yorkshire Fire Service said a couple had to be rescued from a snow drift on the Yorkshire Moors.
It was not only roads affected as Manchester Airport was forced to close its runway for over an hour while crews worked to clear it of snow. Flights in and out of Leeds Bradford Airport were also suspended.
On behalf of the Festival John we wish to apologise for the cancellation of several shows which was largely caused due to several severe weather warnings that took place over a 3 day period.
ReplyDeleteWhilst there was contingency in place across much of our programme - in the end we could not keep stages open due to high winds becoming potential safety concerns.
We are sorry that you feel our Festival team were not helpful to you - and we are also sorry that you might not see the value in our 5 month long participation programme that took us to over 16 schools in Dumfries & Galloway which allowed us to engage and develop the talents of our younger people.
We take on board what you say - and we would like to invite you onto our working group - as we feel you have the honest sort of critique that will help us to become a solid festival platform for the future.
We would like to thank you for making your comments we will only only evolve by seeking out feedback at every opportunity.
BBS TEAM 2013
Please email hello@bigburnssupper.com about joining our Festival Working Group for 2014.