Scottish Traditional Boat Festival Moves Online to Celebrate the Year of Coasts and Waters

This virtual event will go live over the weekend June 25-27 . It is being flagged as a preview for next year’s showcase, with that the hope that the festival will return to Portsoy on June 17-19, 2022.

It will be the second year in a row that the festival has been postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions.

However, a virtual festival provides a different way to share the festival with a wider audience, both at home and abroad, as an opportunity to share some of the special elements which collectively make the festival unique.

Festival chairman David Urquhart said that the digital festival would shine a light on Portsoy and the wider area to viewers across the globe, as well as maintaining the festival’s reputation as a leading Scottish maritime event.

Organisers of one Scotland’s leading celebrations of maritime heritage are delighted to reveal ambitious plans for a virtual offering in 2021.

Mr Urquhart said: “It is with a heavy heart that we have taken the decision not to go ahead with the 2021 Scottish Traditional Boat Festival.

next year’s showcase, with the hope that the festival will return to Portsoy on June 17-19, 2022.

“This festival will maintain our profile, providing some fun and entertainment on the weekend the festival was due to take place and will give a taste of things to come in 2022. We look forward to returning to a real live event, safely, next year.”’

The Scottish Traditional Boat Festival at Portsoy in Aberdeenshire will shift from a physical event to a digital festival due to the uncertainty that remains regarding the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions – with the backing of EventScotland as part of the Year of Coasts and Waters 20/21.

It will be the second year in a row that the festival has been postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events at VisitScotland, said: “We are delighted to be supporting the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival as part of Year of Coasts and Waters 20/21. Scotland offers the perfect stage to celebrate our maritime history and this year's festival provides a great opportunity to learn more about coastal and cultural traditions in North-East Scotland."

With public safety and protecting the local community their primary consideration, the boat festival committee have been working behind-the-scenes on innovative plans to stream a collection of bespoke video content to showcase the many facets of the flagship event which regularly attracts 16,000 to the North-east coastal town.

This virtual event will go live over the weekend June 25-27. It is being flagged as a preview for

However, a virtual festival provides a different way to share the festival with a wider audience, both at home and abroad, as an opportunity to share some of the special elements which collectively make the festival unique.

Festival chairman David Urquhart said that the digital festival would shine a light on Portsoy and the wider area to viewers across the globe, as well as maintaining the festival’s reputation as a leading Scottish maritime event.

Mr Urquhart said: “It is with a heavy heart that we have taken the decision not to go ahead with the 2021 Scottish Traditional Boat Festival.

“This festival will maintain our profile, providing some fun and entertainment on the weekend the festival was due to take place and will give a taste of things to come in 2022. We look forward to returning to a real live event, safely, next year.”

Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events at VisitScotland, said: “We are delighted to be supporting the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival as part of Year of Coasts and Waters 20/21. Scotland offers the perfect stage to celebrate our maritime history and this year’s festival provides a great opportunity to learn more about coastal and cultural traditions in NorthEast Scotland.”

This year’s festival has been awarded funding from EventScotland as part of the Year of Coasts and Waters 20/21, and the creation of a truly memorable virtual festival will celebrate Scotland’s coasts and waters in a format which will shine a spotlight on these vital elements of our landscape.

The two-day boat festival began back in 1993, initially as a one-off event to mark the 300th anniversary of the historic Portsoy harbour. Since then, it has become a mainstay of the Scottish events calendar, attracting an international audience.

In 2019, it was crowned winner of the Best Cultural Event/Festival category at the Aberdeen City & Shire Tourism Awards. It was recently named festival of the year by Prestige Awards.

2020 was a challenging year for Portsoy Community Enterprise. In addition to cancelling the boat festival, its Salmon Bothy museum which annually attracts 3,000 visitors remained closed. Popular cultural festivals normally held in the Bothy’s upstairs meeting space were also called off due to restrictions.

The digital boat festival will showcase the area’s many assets to people both at home and abroad, seeking to inspire them to visit Portsoy and the Aberdeenshire coast once travel restrictions lift.

Find out more about the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival at its Facebook page @STBFPortsoy or at www.stbfportsoy.org