Months in planning, lots of difficult negotiations, sorting out the logistics in staging the Festival and so many other issues to deal with … yet the fundamental question still remained unanswered until the big day dawned – would the weather smile kindly on all the hard work?
Fortunately the weather was nice to Dunbar and the organisers breathed a silent sigh of relief, considering there were strong winds blowing during the night. From early morning, the stallholders came and started setting up their stalls while preparations were underway up in the Battery for the various acts which would be performing later. The Dunbar Harbour Trust, along with many friends and family carried out a lot of work, unseen but essential; tasks such as going around making sure safety barriers were up, picking up and disposing of any litter, checking that the power supplies were on, and many more vital jobs which were crucial for the smooth running of the Festival.
The Sparkling Harbour Festival is essentially about promoting Dunbar Harbour as a place of historical interest and as a tourist venue and promoting local organisations and traders. The Dunbar Rowing Club participated in the Festival, partly to get people interested in joining their club and also taking people for a row around the harbour, allowing people to see the fun of rowing and giving them a perspective of the size of the harbour. As I went round with them, I was amazed at how one’s perspective of the harbour is altered from being so low in the water.
The Sparkling Harbour Festival provides a great opportunity to promote the local economy as Dunbar has many talented local crafters who would otherwise have no outlets to sell their wares. From gourmet sea salts to crocheted octopus hats, the Festival  provides a great opportunity for the local people to appreciate the diversity of talents around. The Festival visitors can amble up to Dunbar’s High Street to look at the quirky shops which provides a diverse range of tastes and interests.
Then the bands started playing; for many people it was the purpose of coming to the Festival. This year the Festival had the pleasure and fortune of having a fantastic headline act, Soul Foundation; a great band full of energy and fun, playing great soul music and the audience loved them and meanwhile the sun shone and the whole event felt the happiness of the occasion, clapping and singing along with the music. The band felt the warmth and appreciation of the audience and this in turn added an oomph to their performance – a win-win situation to both the band and the audience and can only enhance the Festival’s reputation.
But it is important to remember that the Festival is all about promoting local talents too. There were quite a few talented local musicians up on stage as well as the Dunbar based Dance Discovery, all acts providing people with great music and entertainment. It was fun watching children dancing, giving the children the confidence to cope with dancing on stage and in front of a large audience; the public also had a chance to see young musicians from Dunbar such as Luke Hunter and Vinyl ’85, as well as the bands Waiting For Pedro and Damson Jam. As with the promotion of local traders, the Festival is a vessel to allow musicians to raise their profile locally.
And not forgetting the fantastic audience, a wonderful mixture of local and tourists, who participated throughout the afternoon; people came, saw and generally enjoyed themselves. Dancing, singing along and generally being enthusiastic with all that was going on … the organisers couldn’t have dreamt for a better outcome for the day. Even when a few speckles of rain fell, a sizeable crowd remained to listen to the bands while others wandered around the harbour.
But it has to be said that the event would never have taken place without the wholehearted effort, commitment and dedication from a small group of people, all working tirelessly to make the day a huge success. One can only applaud them, and be thankful that so much has been achieved by so few. While next year Festival is a whole year away, as so often in the past, the year flies by quickly and the Harbour Trust would like anyone interested in being involved, to get in touch.
And so everyone went home happy but tired. See you next year!
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