DEPENDING on your point of view, it's a beer-soaked fireworks party for under-30s, or a £40 million driver for the Scottish economy and a world showcase for Edinburgh.
Either way, those behind Edinburgh's Hogmanay breathed a massive sigh of relief yesterday. In two of the last four years, stormy winds had wiped out the New Year celebrations. This year, the party and the fireworks went full steam ahead, despite the
drizzle.
Questions are still being asked, however, about the future of Edinburgh's Hogmanay. It first took formal shape about 15 years ago, but after early rapid growth now faces growing competition from other UK cities, from Belfast to Cardiff.
Edinburgh city council will decide next spring whether to renew its contract with Unique Events, whose chief, Pete Irvine, has shaped the celebrations since they were founded. Three firms are said to be in the running, but there are concerns over whether the Scottish Government will continue its £750,000 annual funding.
Steve Cardownie, the council's deputy leader, has talked about scrapping tickets and barriers for the event. That would potentially open it up to far larger numbers than the 57,500 who paid £5 for tickets to the Princes Street party, along with about 15,000 others heading for the gardens concert and ceilidh.
But memories are still fresh of the near-disaster in 1996 when massive crowds in Princes Street resulted in 600 people being treated in hospital for crushing, and tickets were introduced for the first time.
Yesterday, Irvine said: "If you made it free for all, and still have the fireworks, maybe we would get 200,000 people coming, and that would be irresponsible to say the least. You have to ask what the police would say."
Irvine described what was special for him about Hogmanay. "The power of the event is in its human energy, the gathering of so many people who are good-natured and willing to be with one another," he said. "It's a mass love-in thing, that collective euphoria."
For many international visitors, singing the event's praises on New Year's Day, what mostly mattered was the giant party. "I didn't pay attention to the music, but it was good that it was there," said Lauren Cella, of New York.
London now spends £1 million on its fireworks, threatening to upstage the approximate £100,000 that Edinburgh forks out. Superintendent Andy Tarrant, of the Metropolitan Police, said: "The nature of New Year's Eve in central London has changed. What used to be a relatively low-key, spontaneous night is now a world-class event that attracts thousands and thousands of people."
It has fuelled calls for Edinburgh to market Hogmanay more aggressively as a four-day event. Irvine and others stress the growing success of the "Night Afore" events on the 30th, ranging from a pipes-and-drums procession to street theatre, comedy and a giant ceilidh in George Street.
But the entertainment is free, and that underlines the growing concern over funding. Bands' earnings from CDs are dwindling, and they rely more on concert fees.
Edinburgh's Hogmanay budget is £2.5 million, and tickets for the headline bands at the Concert in the Gardens were £37.50. Irvine said: "Ticket revenues have gone up year on year. The question is, do you call a halt to that or ask for more money from the public? The event has huge safety costs that cannot be covered commercially."
Other ideas have been floated, such as a network of six Scottish cities – Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dundee, Inverness, Stirling – to celebrate the season.
Already, other cities are delivering their own Hogmanay street events, with Glasgow hosting Scottish singer-songwriter Amy Macdonald and Stirling putting on a family night with The Proclaimers. Inverness is holding fire until 12 January, with a fireworks show to mark the end of the Highland Year of Culture 2008.
Irvine cites surveys suggesting visitors spend as much as £40 million in Edinburgh over the Christmas and Hogmanay period. Meanwhile, plans to upgrade the Princes Street Gardens' Ross Bandstand for £14 million appear to be on hold.
"The pictures of Edinburgh went round the world last night, along with Sydney, Beijing or Moscow. Do we want to be up there or not? I would say most definitely yes," Irvine added.
IT NEEDS MORE MONEYDAVID JACKSON, a former manager of Edinburgh's Winter Festivals and now in charge of the Victoria Park outdoor events site in Southport, Merseyside, said: "Standing back from it, you can just see the way that London has put money into their celebrations, and other parts of the country as well.
"Newspaper coverage in the run-up to the New Year was interesting, because the big story was Edinburgh, but six or seven other cities were mentioned as well.
"The major thing about Edinburgh's Hogmanay is it runs four days, and it needs to be protected. There is the torchlight procession and the Night Afore. It's not flash, bang wallop – a few fireworks.
"No matter where you are in the world, everyone sings the Scottish New Year anthem of Auld Lang Syne.
"On a practical level, there is evidence that the marketplace is ripe for Christmas and Hogmanay to have a strong Scottish flavour.
"It comes down to resources and it comes down to ambition as well. If the Scottish Government is serious about making it a truly Scottish winter festival, they have got to put money behind it."
'BROADLY RIGHT'DONALD ANDERSON, a former Edinburgh city council leader and director of PPS Scotland, said: "Edinburgh's Hogmanay is one of the world's great events. It had a hard time because of two cancellations.
"Monday night seems to have been a success. I think we can look ahead with confidence. The big issue is the funding. As long as funding is there to allow Pete Irvine or whoever to adapt the programme, I see no reason why it can't go from strength to strength.
"When you've got year-to-year local funding, it's hard for the council to give unequivocal guarantees, but everybody wants this event to succeed – there's backing across all political parties.
"Broadly, the format is right, but I'd have liked to see more activities for people on the street."
BUSINESS PLANCLARE SMITH is a marketing events consultant.
"Edinburgh's positioned itself as the place to be for Hogmanay for years now but I don't think we've invested in the product enough to maintain that position.
"We need to go further afield to make it an internationally appealing event, and I'm not sure it is. You hear great accents around town but if you look at the statistics, in 2005 there were 13 per cent from abroad.
"Pete Irvine does a fantastic job with the tools he has but there's uncertainty about its funding; he can't plan in advance, he can't get bigger, he can't get creative.
"It does a lot for Scotland generally, so it's not just looking at public-sector investment but getting businesses involved as well."
'EVOLVING CONSTANTLY'STUART NISBET Is the music programmer of Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations.
"We thought the night was a fantastic success. I was delighted with the way that the artists responded and took on board how special the event is.
"All the bands loved it, they were partying at after-show dos until the wee small hours. There were little ceilidhs after the show, with fiddle- playing at hotel function rooms.
"This year we made a concerted decision to make things a little edgier. We had a few years of it being very comfy and more towards the pop end, so we went a little more rocky this year and I think it worked well.
"There is an endless list of things I would like to see changed, and everybody involved has lots of suggestions. I'm sure there will be lots of changes.
"If you have more money you could do better. It's not easy. We can't spend money that we don't have.
"There are thousands of bands out there, and you've got other cities with Hogmanay celebrations, but Edinburgh is the one with real headline status for artists.
"The thing evolves constantly, and has its ups and downs. This year was one of the ups."
The full article contains 1388 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
