{"id":1041855,"date":"2026-06-22T01:09:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T01:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1041855\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T01:09:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T01:09:30","slug":"blue-skies-bring-out-crowds-to-canal-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1041855\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue skies bring out crowds to Canal Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sun shone in a clear blue sky and crowds flocked to the banks of the Union Canal to enjoy the Canal Festival.<\/p>\n

The five-hour event at Fountainbridge Green, Lochrin Basin and Leamington featured music, canoe polo, model boats, face painting, stalls organised by schools including Dalry Primary and Boroughmuir High School, and even a Mermaid.<\/p>\n

Children enjoyed activities and local organisations showcased their portfolio during the free day including Polwarth Parish Church who hosted an open doors day and quiet space.<\/p>\n

There were three zones. Lochrin Basin featured groups including Reformer Pilates Studio, Edinburgh Model Boats, Edinburgh Living Streets, Woodland Trust, Edinburgh Community Climate Action Network, Four Sisters Boatels, Fir Expresso Bar, Forth Canoe Club and Re-Union Canal Boats.<\/p>\n

The Leamington Bridge Zone boasted Network Key Services (NKS) with their hot food stall, the St Andrews Boat Club, which has promoted rowing for all since 1846, the Association of Ukranian Women in Great Britain with gifts and crafts, Edinburgh Printmakers, whose base is nearby in the former rubber mill, Dalry Primary School Parents and Carers Council who promoted their second-hand toy and book stall, Home Start with arts and colouring and Corstorphine First Aid.<\/p>\n

The Fountainbridge zone had Broughmuir High School, Linzer Baker on Lochrin Belle, The Sorted Project, Fountainbridge Canalside Community Trust Greenspace Group, Fountainbridge Library, Pentland Scout Group, Coorie Pizza, Birchwood Art Studio with activities, information and a summer exhibition and Form and Strength Studio.<\/p>\n

Attendees loved the music including Buskin Sharks, a big band playing jazz and funk, and enjoyed Vocality, a capella, with an audience also drawn to Ukehoot, a Ukulele collective performing pop and rock songs, and the Take Note Choir. <\/p>\n

Now, organisers are gearing up for picnic in the park on Saturday, July 25 from noon to 3pm at Harrison Park with music and more promised.<\/p>\n

The third event in the calendar is a raft race at Leamington Lift Bridge on Saturday, August 22 (12-4pm) which will also include water activity tasters and barge boat trips.<\/p>\n

The canal festival is, say organisers, \u201cbuilt by the community, for the community\u201d and it is part of the Fountainbridge Canalside Community organisation\u2019s events strategy. Bosses were delighted with the outcome.<\/p>\n

It introduced many of a variety of ages and backgrounds to the delights and opportunities offered by the Union Canal and a spokesman said: \u201cThe festival brings people together to celebrate the waterway, green spaces and communities that make this part of the city feel alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

They revealed that they are trying something new this year, spreading the Edinburgh Canal Festival across three separate events, the festival day, picnic in the park and the raft race.<\/p>\n

The spokesman added: \u201cAlongside the festival, we are preparing for a big new chapter with the opening of our new community space and office on Union Path, a place, we hope, will become a welcoming hub for creativity, well-being, learning and connection all year round.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organisation are also looking forward to introducing a new electric boat to the canal, helping continue making the waterways more accessible, sustainable and enjoyable for everyone.<\/p>\n

Fund-raising is under way and bosses say the new boat will be the first of its kind in Scotland and save on CO2 emissions as well as being almost silent to run. <\/p>\n

COVER PICTURE:<\/strong> Looking towards Leamington Liftbridge in the summer sunshine at the Canal Festival 2026. Picture Nigel Duncan<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

PIPES:<\/strong> Boroughmuir School pipe band showing their prowess. Picture Nigel Duncan<\/strong><\/p>\n

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PADDLE POWER: <\/strong>Forth Canoe Club in action during the canoe pole event which attracted crowds. Picture Nigel Duncan<\/strong><\/p>\n

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BUSY ON THE GREEN:<\/strong> Some of the stalls on the bank. Picture Nigel Duncan<\/strong><\/p>\n

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FOR HIRE: <\/strong>Waterwitch on show and available for hire for up to eight people through Re-Union Canal Boats. Picture Nigel Duncan <\/strong><\/p>\n

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ON SONG: <\/strong>Take Note Choir sing bankside during the festival. Picture Nigel Duncan<\/strong><\/p>\n

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IN TUNE: <\/strong>Auld Spice preparing for their recital on the Polwarth Church narrowboat. Picture Nigel Duncan<\/strong><\/p>\n

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EN ROUTE: <\/strong>Crowds making their way to and from the festival. Picture Nigel Duncan<\/strong><\/p>\n

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THROUGH THE KEYHOLE: <\/strong>On board the Four Sisters Boatel moored near Leamington Liftbridge. Picture Nigel Duncan<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sun shone in a clear blue sky and crowds flocked to the banks of the Union Canal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1041856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8816],"tags":[286910,286911,286912,748,286913,286914,286915,286916,286917,1102,286918,286919,286920,286921,286922,286923,286924,286925,4884,161108,286926,286927,284447,119971,712,286928,286929,16,286930,15,17195],"class_list":["post-1041855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edinburgh","tag-association-of-ukraiinian-women-in-great-britain","tag-birchwood-at-studio","tag-boroubhmuir-high-school","tag-britain","tag-buskin-sharks","tag-coorie-pizza","tag-corstorphine-first-aid","tag-dalry-primary-school","tag-edinbugh-printmakers","tag-edinburgh","tag-edinburgh-community-climate-action-network","tag-edinburgh-livingstreets","tag-edinburgh-model-boats","tag-form-and-strength-studio","tag-forth-canoe-club","tag-fountainbridge-community-canalside-trust","tag-fountainbridge-library","tag-four-sisters-boatels","tag-great-britain","tag-home-start","tag-networking-key-services","tag-polwarth-church","tag-re-union-canal-boats","tag-reformer-pilates","tag-scotland","tag-st-andrew-boat-club","tag-the-sorted-project","tag-uk","tag-union-canal","tag-united-kingdom","tag-woodland-trust"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1041855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1041856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1041855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1041855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1041855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}