Food, beer and music – what more could a Buddie ask for?
Fantastic lead-up to official 2021 cuture bid
Hundreds of people crammed into Paisley town centre on Saturday to mark the town’s bid to be UK City of Culture 2021.
Around 25 saxophone players were joined by a live band and an excited crowd on Paisley High Street for a special performance of the Gerry Rafferty hit Baker Street.
The iconic song was recreated in the week of what would have been the Paisley legend’s 70th birthday and was a rousing success.
The event was part of an action-packed weekend for the town – with Abbey Close hosting the third annual Paisley Food Festival.
Thousands of visitors enjoyed an array of exotic street food including Mexican burritos, Indian vegan burgers, Spanish churros and mouthwatering burgers.
The event also featured cooking demos from BBC Masterchef – The Professionals winner Gary Maclean, free workshops for kids, CBeebies star Katy Ashworth and live music from local acts and The Voice finalists, Into the Ark.
Paisley Town Hall was also hosting the final day of the 30th annual Paisley Beer Festival – the largest real- ale festival in Scotland.
The Baker Street performance was the brainchild of Tommy McGrory of local music charity Loud and Proud, and delivered in partnership with the Paisley 2021 bid team and backed by youth theatre group PACE.
Paisley’s bid to be UK City of Culture will be lodged with the UK Government’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport this week, ahead of Friday’s deadline.
Paisley 2021 bid director Jean Cameron said: “Paisley’s bid to be UK City of Culture 2021 has been a mass movement with incredible buy-in from the local community.
“That was evident again on Saturday with a wonderful turnout and a great atmosphere at both the Baker Street performance and the food and beer festivals.
“One of the key things our bid will celebrate is the incredible wealth of talent produced by this town, and Gerry Rafferty is one of the best examples of that – so this was a fantastic way to mark the bid submission later this week.”
Gerry’s daughter Martha said: “My father was very proud of his Paisley roots and I am sure he would have been supportive of the town’s UK City of Culture bid.”
The UK Government is expected to announce a shortlist of bidding places over the summer and the winner by the end of the year.
For more information, visit paisley2021. co.uk