The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Carnival Fifty Six does City of Discovery proud
Organisers say everything ran smoothly and feedback was good
The organisers of Carnival Fifty Six have said they are “pretty happy” with the turnout after around 8,000 revellers flocked to Camperdown Park for the festival each day.
The event, held on Saturday and Sunday from noon until 11pm, saw some of music’s biggest names visit Dundee, including Mark Ronson, Basement Jaxx and Rudimental.
It is the biggest festival to be held in the city since Radio 1’s Big Weekend was held at the same venue in 2006.
International sensation Clean Bandit had pulled out only weeks ago, with the organisers pulling out all the stops to replace the electro group with indie-rockers the Charlatans.
The atmosphere was described by organisers as “great throughout” with police confirming no arrests were made over the two days.
Festival founder Craig Blythe said the attendance was “good for a first festival”.
He said: “Overall it has been a good fun atmosphere with a great crowd and the feedback has been really good.
“From speaking to the emergency services and the council, everything seems to have gone well too.”
He continued: “We worked to a capacity of 10,000 so we’re pretty happy to get 8,000 each day, especially since it is only the first festival.”
Weather on the Saturday began gloomy but brightened up as the day progressed with only a slight shower at night.
Conditions improved yesterday however, with sun and only a little cloud for most of the day.
On whether Carnival Fifty Six will return next year, Mr Blythe said a decision would be made “within the next month”.
He said: “We will obviously need to sit down with all parties involved and undertake a full review of how things went. We will work out a long-term plan from there.
“We were thrilled with everything though, especially how popular our sponsor 71 Lager was as it is a small local company.”
Sniffer dogs were present at the grounds with several people seen to be searched.
Police Scotland said the festival-goers were “very well behaved” with the event passing without incident. Dundee’s new – and hopefully annual – music festival can only be described as a great success.
When the line-up was announced in February, there was surprise at just how many big-name artists the organisers had managed to draw in.
Though one did pull out, the list of performers still had more than enough depth to satisfy a wide range of tastes.
The organisers have proved they can put together a highly successful event in the city and with it only being the very first year, should be given as much encouragement as possible to return again.
With 8,000 revellers per day, Dundonians have certainly shown an appetite for it.