The Crossing wasn’t the only event during the summer season to pay real economic dividends for canalside communities.
Autumn 2009
Along with the inaugural Edinburgh Canal Festival, the 10th Kirkintilloch Canal Festival and Bigman2 in Glasgow, waterside events attracted over 70,000 visitors, confirming that they not only bring communities together but draw in new visitors staying and spending locally.
The first Edinburgh Canal Festival had an illustrious start with the Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP opening proceedings. Despite the wet weather, 3,000 visitors turned out to enjoy the visual spectacle of the raft race as well as a host of other attractions.
Although primarily a community-focused event, the Edinburgh Canal Festival event attracted 56% of visitors from other areas of Edinburgh, 11% from areas surrounding Edinburgh and 11% from other areas of the UK.
The more established Kirkintilloch Canal Festival, which was recognised with a Waterways Renaissance Award at the British Urban Regeneration Association Awards in 2008, has grown exponentially with 25,000 visitors attending this year and delivering an approximate added net expenditure in the local economy of £320,000.
The majority of local town centre businesses taking part in a post event survey said that they felt it had a direct impact on their business, with 75% reporting an increase in turnover due to the festival and 30% of those surveyed took on extra staff for festival weekend. Proof, once again, of the potential economic and social impact of waterway events.
Following The Crossing, the Edinburgh Canal Festival and the Kirkintilloch Canal Festival, our summer event season concluded in style with Bigman2 - a community driven festival on the Forth & Clyde Canal at Maryhill Locks, Glasgow.
A great example of our commitment to working in partnership with local authorities and community organisations to achieve successful and impactful projects, Bigman2 was run once again by The Waterways Trust Scotland with support from Glasgow City Council and a raft of local groups.
Over two and a half thousand visitors enjoyed the bustling Bigman2 programme which included dragonboat racing, waterpolo competitions and taster canoeing, mountain biking and sailing lessons.
Most importantly, Bigman2 was designed to engage the local community with our aspirations for an iconic sculptural bridge which will draw visitors from Glasgow city centre along the Forth & Clyde Canal from Speirs Wharf up to Maryhill, an area in much need of attention.
As well as free boat trips to Stockingfield Junction, the site of the proposed bridge, visitors came face to face with a scaled down version of the 30 metre Bigman sculpture by renowned artist Andy Scott which will appear to ‘hold aloft’ the proposed footbridge.
In between these key events, we continued to promote the tremendous recreational and community opportunities presented by the waterways at other events both on and off the waterways including the Crinan Classic, Glasgow River Festival and The Royal Highland Show where our transparent inflatable spheres, the Waterwalkerz, proved as popular as the more traditional elements of the show.
Do you have a comment to make on this story or do you want to get involved in some way? Please get in touch by emailing joanna.harrison@britishwaterways.co.uk
