The burns an’ a’ that! Festival 2007 was another success and Ayr and Ayrshire were buzzing. The dates for the 2008 festival have been announced and are Saturday 17th to Monday 26th May 2008. Status Quo have been announced as one of the big acts for this year.

In 2007 the events at Ayr Racecourse (first time used as a venue) were excellent. Rock at the Racecourse drew a crowd of over 6000 people and great fun was had by all. The Gala Concert with special guest star Marti Pellow was also a big hit. The orchestra of the Scottish Opera with Karen Matheson and Phil Cunningham, as always were very well received and played some wonderful music.

The Bon Vivant Spiegeltent in Wellington Square proved a very popular venue providing entertainment from The MacDonald Brothers, Singing Kettle and Frankie Boyle to name but a few.

We had some new events in 2007 including children’s events and events at Alloway Parish Church. These were all well attended and very well received. Also, for the first time there were concerts by both new artists and the popular band Idlewild at Dean Castle Country Park in Kilmarnock.

2007 saw more local event organisers getting involved with the Festival. It is really good to know that the Ayrshire community want to become more involved with the Festival and the organisers look forward to working with them again this year.

If you would like to get involved in the 2008 Festival, please contact Rachel McCallum on 01292 612477 or rachel.mccallum@burnsfestival.com for more information.