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Aberdeen Festivals.
Please scroll down for forthcoming events
from January to December 2007
Aberdeen and its environs is the perfect destination for a short break or
long term holiday offering stunning granite architecture in the city itself,
spectacular beaches and coastal scenery as well as picture-postcard towns
and villages dotted around the Aberdeenshire countryside. No matter what
time of year you visit this magnificent city and region, you will be enthralled
with its many festivals and cultural events held throughout the year.
Festivals and Events in Aberdeen cover the whole spectrum and celebrate
the city's maritime history, sport, cuisine and the arts, each having equal
representation in the city's festival calendar. Like any other major Scottish
City, Aberdeen plays host to an exciting and vibrant Hogmanay Street Party
every year, with Castlegate and Langstane areas of the City Centre drawing
in over 20,000 each year. Like its Edinburgh and Glasgow counterparts, revellers
are entertained to an eclectic and vibrant feast of live music from Scottish
contemporary groups to more traditional sets. Aberdeen's Hogmanay Street
Party gets better year-by-year and is certainly the finest New Year's Eve
Celebrations in the North of Scotland.
In the world of sport, Aberdeen welcomes hundreds of youth football soccer
teams to The Aberdeen International Football Festival (AIFF) held in the
city's Seaton Park each July. The AIFF has become something of an institution
in Aberdeen's summer events calendar and brings a host of young football
teams from overseas and across the UK and attracts a wealth of spectators
in all weathers. This event's focus is on sportsmanship and social contact
as opposed to serious competitions and is truly an enjoyable experience
for everyone who watches and takes part. What has made this festival successful
is its thread of continuity and its emphasis on maintaining a festival atmosphere
every year since its inception in 1981.
Music plays an integral part in Aberdeen's cultural life and one of the
most prestigious music festivals in Aberdeen is inarguably, The Aberdeen
Jazz Festival. This vibrant programme takes place every March at various
venues across the city including the Aberdeen Arts Centre and the Lemon
Tree Café in Aberdeen City Centre. Launched in 2004, The Aberdeen
Jazz Festival has came a long way from being a modest, low-key affair and
has transformed into one of the most prominent festivals in the UK Jazz
Music calendar. Over the course of its brief history, the Jazz Festival
has featured the likes of Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, the sensational
Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and award-winning Seb Rochford with his
Jazz-influenced band, The Polar Bears. It also showcases a host of more
intimate affairs at the Blue Lamp and Rusty Nail Pubs. Why not experience
the delights of this cosmopolitan festival that attracts crowds from other
parts of the UK, Scandinavia and Continental Europe.
The 'Granite City' is also renowned for its annual literary Word Festival
in May, each year. This popular event for the bookish and literati ranks
second in Scotland after Edinburgh's International Book Festival and attracts
over 50 authors and 6000 visitors to a packed weekend of readings, lectures,
art exhibitions, live music and film screenings produced by some of the
world's accomplished writers. The Aberdeen Word Festival is staged in the
beautiful medieval setting of King's College at the University of Aberdeen,
now 500 years old. The College's state-of-the-art auditorium hosts the majority
of the festival's events, including discussions with authors and recitals.
There is also an eclectic plethora of events that are staged at various
venues across Aberdeen, adding a real buzz to this much-loved Scottish city.
Aberdeen is globally renowned for its significant input and achievements
in the science and technology arena and this is celebrated every September
at Techfest, one of Britain's most prestigious science and technology festivals.
Since its inception in 1993, Techfest has offered visitors a diverse programme
of events and activities designed to inspire, captivate and to demonstrate
the enjoyable aspects of Science, Engineering and Mathematics. This festival
plays host to a series of engaging and tactile workshops related to technology,
industry and the natural world. Next year's festival is likely to showcase
an even greater programme of events and tours of Aberdeen's major industries.
The focal point for the festival is at Aberdeen Sea beach with the Beach
Ballroom and the adjoining Beach Leisure Centre playing host to the fun-packed
programme of events that enthral both young and old each year.
No matter what time of year you arrive in Aberdeen and the Grampian Highlands,
you can be assured of a warm hospitable welcome to its eclectic mix of events
and festivals that celebrate every aspect of cultural life in the North
East of Scotland. For information about festivals and dates, please consult
the list featured below.
2007
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January ...
- The Burning of the Clavie, Burghead (11)
- Burns Night (25)
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February ...
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March ...
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April ...
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May...
- The Word Festival (12 - 14)
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June ...
- Keith Festival (8 - 10)
- Taste of Grampian Food Festival in Inverurie (10)
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July ...
- Aberdeen International Football Festival (15 - 21)
- Scottish Traditional Boat Festival at Portsoy (30 - 1st July)
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August ...
- The Aberdeen International Youth Festival (1 - 11)
- Tartan Day (11)
- Lonach Highland Games and Gathering, Strathdon (25)
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September ...
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October ...
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November ...
- City of Aberdeen Fireworks Display (5)
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December ...
- Traditional German Christmas Market, Castlegate Square
- RSNO Christmas Concert, Music Hall
- Hogmanay (31)
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