Edinburgh Festival Carnival and Grassmarket ‘Mardi Gras’ revived

Edinburgh is to revive its “Festival Carnival" along Princes Street and a “Mardi Gras” event in the Grassmarket to herald the start of the the 75th-anniversary season of the city’s annual cultural celebration.

Botheventswillberevived on the opening weekend of the Edinburgh Jazz and Bluesfestival,thefirstofthe bigsummereventstoreturn this year.

More than 130 concerts will be staged at venues acrossthecityacrosstheten days of the festival, which is one of the biggest events of its type in Europe.

The jazz and blues extravaganza will be the first of Edinburgh's big summer events to be staged this year after organisers of the film festival decided to move its dates back to August for the first time in 15 years.

The jazz festival will stage shows in George Square Gardens across its ten days, as well as the Festival Theatre, the Assembly Hall on The Mound, the Roxy and the Jazz Bar.

Organisers of the jazz festival are promising to bring ‘a taste of New Orleans’ back to the Grassmarket, with a three-hour Mardi Gras on Saturday, July 16, which will feature acts like After Hours, Brass Gumbo and Dopesick Fly.

More than 1,000 performers are expected to take part in the Edinburgh Festival Carnival on Sunday, July 17.

Musicians and dancers from Costa Rica, Trinidad, Zambia, the United States, South Africa, the Netherlands, Martinique and France are expected to parade from the top of The Mound to the west end of Princes Street between 1pm and 3pm.

Westprincesgardenswill then be transformed for three hours of free entertainment from musicians, dancers and circus performers.