Hebridean Celtic Festival

Stornoway is gearing up for its busiest week of the year as the Hebridean Celtic Festival opens.

Shops have ordered twice as much food and supplies as usual with the town’s population set to double in the coming days.

The main performances are sold out with about 15,000 tickets snapped up for the four-day event which is worth around £1 million to the local economy every year.

Gaelic rock legends, Runrig and the foot-stomping Red Hot Chilli Pipers are headlining the festival’s 21st celebrations this season.

The diverse line-up of nearly 50 acts also includes the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Hayseed Dixie, Astrid, Julie Fowlis, King Creosote, Eddi Reader and Breabach.

The influx of visitors means hotels, guest houses and the campsites are packed out during festival week and an annual appeal was made for local residents to make spare rooms or beds available.

Festival director Caroline Maclennan said: “We are extremely pleased with the ticket sales this year. This is easily our best performance ever, with big spikes firstly when we announced Runrig and put weekend tickets on sale back in November, and then when we released day tickets.

Runrig are obviously a huge draw, especially in our unique setting in the Gaelic heartland, but we have a large and varied programme with a host of great acts which will appeal to our multi-national audience.”

Stornoway population doubles as festival fans descend on town

12 July 2016