Let the People Sing: The Enduring Spirit of the Greater Craigmillar Festival

This Saturday, 7 June 2025, the streets of Craigmillar will once again resonate with music, laughter, and community spirit as the Greater Craigmillar Festival returns to Castlebrae Community Campus. From 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, residents and visitors alike will gather to celebrate the area’s rich cultural heritage through a vibrant parade, engaging workshops, live performances, and communal feasting. This free event, beginning with a parade from the Jack Kane Sports Centre, is more than a festive occasion—it is a testament to the enduring legacy of grassroots activism and community resilience that has defined Craigmillar for over six decades.

The origins of the Craigmillar Festival date back to 1962, born from the determination of local mother Helen Crummy and the Peffermill School Mothers’ Club. Frustrated by the lack of access to arts education for their children, they organised a community festival to showcase local talent and foster a sense of pride and unity. This grassroots initiative laid the foundation for the Craigmillar Festival Society (CFS), formally established in 1969. Under Crummy’s leadership, the Society became a pioneering force in the emerging Community Arts Movement, demonstrating how the arts could serve as a catalyst for social change and community-led regeneration.

The CFS’s radical model gained international attention, inspiring similar initiatives across Scotland, the UK, and beyond. By integrating arts and culture into everyday life, the Society empowered residents to shape their environment and speak up for their communities. This principle of cultural democracy—participatory, inclusive, and locally led—became central to how the CFS operated. Its impact can still be felt today, not just in Craigmillar, but in sister movements such as the Leith Festival, the Portobello Village Fair, and others that continue to champion community ownership of the arts.

Today, the Greater Craigmillar Festival continues to carry this legacy forward. The 2025 edition offers a diverse array of activities designed to include all ages and backgrounds. Attendees can look forward to arts and crafts, a silent disco, live music and dance, and a variety of family-friendly entertainments. Edinburgh Food Social will provide communal meals, reinforcing the festival’s commitment to togetherness, wellbeing, and shared experience.

The event also provides a platform for local organisations to engage directly with the community. For example, the Niddrie Café—run in collaboration with Parkinson’s UK—will host a stall to raise awareness of its work. These partnerships exemplify the festival’s wider role in building support networks across Craigmillar and strengthening the social fabric of the area.

The significance of the festival lies not just in its present-day offering, but in the way it honours and preserves the local past. The familiar parade route from the Jack Kane Centre to Castlebrae links today’s celebration with generations of community activism, culture, and pride. These connections to the past are vital. They help reinforce a sense of place and belonging at a time when so many communities feel fragmented or overlooked.

That continuity is particularly powerful in Craigmillar, a part of the city often associated with regeneration, but where the word “community” still carries profound meaning. Through its emphasis on participatory arts, intergenerational learning, and civic expression, the festival reminds us that culture is not something imported—it grows from the ground up.

As Edinburgh evolves, the value of events like the Greater Craigmillar Festival cannot be overstated. In a city often dominated by major tourism-focused spectacles, here is an example of celebration rooted in place, led by residents, and centred on community benefit. This isn’t spectacle for its own sake. It’s meaningful, resilient, and quietly radical.

The Cockburn Association recognises the significance of grassroots cultural events in shaping a liveable city. We commend the organisers, volunteers, and local supporters of the Greater Craigmillar Festival for their continued dedication. At a time when urban development pressures are often at odds with local needs, such events offer a different way of thinking about city-making: one that starts with people, creativity, and care.

As we celebrate the festival’s return, we also reaffirm our commitment to supporting community-driven endeavours. These initiatives enrich Edinburgh’s cultural landscape and strengthen the bonds that unite us.

Want to find out more:

“How we helped the people sing: The story of the Craigmillar Festival Society” – Andrew Crummy

https://youtu.be/OFBzRu1XOzo?si=8fUJ80DlKjdw8uap