Kirkintilloch businesses vow to create new event after cancellation of Canal Festival

A group of businesses have vowed to create a new community festival after a popular town event was cancelled.

The Kirkintilloch Canal Festival was created to celebrate the town’s historic connections with the waterways.

However, the event, which attracts thousands to the marina in the East Dunbartonshire town, has been cancelled by the local authority due to monetary constraints.

The chief executive of East Dunbartonshire Council has said “external funding” would be required to cover the full costs of £120,000.

Ann Davie said: “As per the budget decision made at Council in March 2024, with an update in December 2024, the Kirkintilloch Canal Festival will not take place in 2025.

“For the festival to take place in future, external funding to cover the full costs of £120,000 would need to be secured and done so in enough time to plan its delivery. Unfortunately, external funds weren’t available for 2025.

“While the event will not go ahead this year, we will continue working to identify relevant external funding opportunities for future years.”

Now, the Kirkintilloch BID (Business Improvement District), which represents around 150 local businesses, is leading a campaign to create a new event in the town to bring the community together.

The group is now exploring what funds can be made available to make sure the town has a festival to look forward to this summer.

An emergency community meeting is being planned for the coming weeks to discuss what can be done to ensure that an event does go ahead.

A spokesperson for the Kirkintilloch BID said: “We want to galvanise the local community to ensure a similar event goes ahead this summer, such as a community festival.

“The festival, in its current form, may have been cancelled. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t take this as an opportunity to build something new, something sustainable, and something that keeps the heart of the event alive.

“This Canal Festival was a much-loved annual event which showed Kirkintilloch at its finest, while being a key driver for the local economy and attracting tourists to the area.

“Many local businesses had already started planning for this event and were relying on the income that the event generated.

“To cancel the festival now is a major blow to the community and business. We are determined to do everything we can to ensure there is still a date in the calendar for everyone in Kirkintilloch to look forward to.

“We are in talks with the council to get a breakdown of the event plans to see what external funding we can get to start planning for a new Community Festival. Plans are also underway to organise an emergency community meeting to formulate a plan of action.

“We are reaching out to anyone in the area who can help with funding or ideas to come forward.”