THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD NEWS..

Dear Outsiders,

The bad news is that regrettably, we will NOT be staging the
Outsider Festival in 2008.

The good news is that we WILL be going ahead with Outsider Festival 2009 in June next year.

Outsider 2009 will be part of Scotland's Year of Homecoming and planning is already underway to make sure it is the festival highlight of the year. We're sorry it’s taken a while to come to this conclusion but there were many considerations to be made.

The Outsider Festival is no ordinary commercial music festival. We have a genuine commitment to being innovative and fresh and full of life. The festival fields in the Rothiemurchus Estate sit in an environmentally sensitive landscape. Since the Outsider Festival programme is very much part of that landscape and we encourage people to go offsite and do things as well as enjoy the music and activities in the arena, we have to be very aware of the impact that we make. A biennial festival sits much better with these considerations.

By breaking the festival mould in combining a complete on-site festival programme, with a full off-site outdoor activities programme, we are not operating under strictly commercial rules. The Outsider Festival does rely on much needed funding and support from a wide variety of sources and it has not been possible to secure all the funding required for this year within a suitable timescale. We would like to thank everyone who strived to make Outsider 2008 a reality and for your continued support and commitment for Outsider 2009. We know that there are lots of you out there waiting for this announcement, and we have been overwhelmed by all the emails. Thank you for being patient. Please check-in with us early autumn for details on how to join us on the longest days of 2009 in glorious Rothiemurchus.

The Outsider Festival will return to Rothiemurchus, Aviemore on Saturday 20 June and Sunday 21 June 2009 with a full event programme including:
All New Outsider Mountain Bike Series (20K, 45K & 65K World Class routes), Britain's Most Beautiful 12k Run, Full Music Programme, Outdoor Activities in Cairngorms National Park, International Outsider Forum, Cabaret & Comedy, Film and lots, lots more…

Earlybird tickets for Outsider 2009 will be on-sale from Friday 5 September, check this website and register for full details.

Enjoy the summer. Enjoy the outdoors. Be an Outsider in 2009.


2007 | WHAT THE PAPERS SAID:

"The Outsider rocks, and by rights it should become a boutique Glastonbury of the North" The Scotsman

"The feeling was of being at the beginning of something" The Herald

"The festival was voted an outstanding success by the 10,000 who turned up" Daily Record

2007 | WHAT YOU SAID:

We’ve just arrived home after our weekend in Aviemore at the Outsider, I needed to write to you to tell you how fabulous the festival was! It was a truly family friendly festival and my 4 children loved it – there was something to appeal to all ages. We went mountain biking, orienteering, learned Bush skills, ate fantastic food, learned lots more about global warming and listened to some absolutely FABULOUS music! We didn’t mind the weather – we had waterproofs and wellies and warm clothes, so were absolutely fine. Please PLEASE run Outsider again next year – we want to buy tickets already! Laurie

There was a great mix of music and other outdoor & indoor events. The atmosphere was great and there was something for all age groups in our party from age 5 to 45. Ewan

Just wanted to say what a great weekend this was. Despite the weather - it was well organised, well run, well policed and really good fun! Thanks to all who were involved in making this a memorable occasion. Hope you have another next year! Lynne

I just wanted to thank you very much indeed for a wonderful festival. It was so varied – informative, interesting and fun! There were several times when I wanted to go to more than one thing at a particular time. It must have taken a lot of organisation to put together. The bands were wonderful also and lots of excellent Scottish produce to eat! I do hope you will hold the festival next year. Many thanks Sara

Just thought I’d let you know how much my partner and I enjoyed the festival. We camped and despite the very wet weather, had a wonderful time. The atmosphere was terrific despite the mud! Thanks again for a fantastic weekend! Mairi and Allan

My 8 yr old daughter and I were in the long queue for the loos on sat night after KT Tunstall - ankle deep in mud, being rained on and heading back for out tent after a long wet day - she looked up and said 'This is the best place in the universe mummy isn’t it?' we had a great time despite the rain - excellent activities and music to suit our family, great range and quality of food and we felt the kids were safe and facilities coped well given the weather! Only thing we struggled with was distance from car to camp-site - far too far given our family size tent and all our stuff. We would certainly come back next year Kay

We all had a brilliant time at the festival yesterday despite the unkind weather. Many many thanks to everyone involved. Please consider running it again.

I have just returned home from the festival with my husband and three kids. Despite the weather I just wanted to say that we had a great time and enjoyed all the entertainment. We thought it was well organised and that you all coped well with the muddy conditions. We hope that despite the mud etc that you will be back next year.
Thanks Tanya

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