Nithraid 2019 will definitely be a year to remember for us at The Stove; after months of planning and a huge amount of hard work by our fabulous Nithraid team, the decision to pull our annual River Festival had to be made the day before the main event to keep everyone safe in the face of terrible weather, and a complete deluge of rain.

However, we are very grateful for everyone who arrived to pitch in and lend a hand for an unbelievable turn around. We were able to bring elements of the festival into the town centre, including workshops with Creative Futures, Freelance Ranger, Battlestations and the Dumfries American Hunters Football Team.

The Salty Coo Procession roamed the streets of Dumfries town centre and was led by Blueprint100’s Jordan Chisholm. In the 3 months leading up to this year’s Nithraid, the Blueprint100 team worked with various local community groups and organisations to create banners and flags to used in the procession celebrating the people of Dumfries with their ‘powerful communities’ theme. Read more about the Procession here.

The live music took place in the Stove Cafe with fantastic performances from Freya Cloy, Ra, Eddie and Isla of Tiderays, Corrie Russell and Kate Kyle. In the evening, live music continued across the town, with pubs and bars scheduling bands and performances to mark the day.

This years commissioned artwork, Nithlight created by artists Emily Tough and Philip Mairs provided a beautiful close to the day on the Mill Green once the river had died down. Read more about Nithlight here.

The Friday evening provided a night to remember too – with an amazing array of local performers turning out to participate in the Big Nithraid Warm-Up Brave New Words, followed by a ceilidh from Reidhle which had every person in the room up dancing.