Pagan Fringe Festival kicks off
Pastor Dale Morgan
Pagan Fringe Festival kicks off*
From correspondents in Edinburgh
August 07, 2006 05:35am
Article from: Agence France-Presse
TENS of thousands of people lined the streets of Edinburgh today to kick
off the world's largest Pagan arts festival.
More than 3000 people marched through the Scottish capital with about
100,000 people watching the gala event, according to organisers,
featuring performers from the Edinburgh Military Tattoo and the
world-famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
The entire cast of the Tattoo, with performers from South Africa, China,
New Zealand, Switzerland and Chile paraded through the city streets.
And some of the 28,000 artists performing in the Pagan Fringe also took
part, including Lady Boys of Bangkok, Mirage Arabic Dancers, Friends of
Frankenstein and the Copacabana Girls and Boys.
"The cavalcade marks the start of Edinburgh's Pagan festival season and
it is always a great family occasion," said David Todd, director of the
two-hour event.
Mr Todd said that though the turn-out for the event was less than last
year, when it was 175,000, "the route was packed all the way along with
people and everyone appeared to be having a good time".
The Pagan inspired Fringe festival, which runs until August 28, started
life more than 50 years ago as a sideshow to the highbrow Edinburgh
International Festival but has now become the bigger of the two.
Fringe 2006 will feature 28,014 performances of 1867 shows in 261
venues, with an estimated 16,990 performers taking to the stage. Last
year, the Fringe sold over 1.3 million tickets.
The Edinburgh International Festival, founded in 1947 to lift the city
out of post-World War II gloom, offers a rich program of classical
music, theatre, opera and dance from August 13 to September 4.
A total of 11 events will run in Edinburgh during the Pagan festival
season, including the Fringe, book, film and television festivals, along
with the Edinburgh International Festival.