A Hooley for St Andrew!

If you were in Perth City Centre last Sunday then you'll probably still be reeling from what was a big, bright, musical extravaganza of a celebration.  Opened with the sort of pipe-playing, drum-banging, kilt-swirling street parade you will only ever enjoy in Scotland, Perth made sure #OurStAndrewsDay was one to be remembered.

FOOD FIT FOR A SCOTSMAN

Lit up beautifully with Christmas Lights, the tradition of a Scottish Market brought an array of amazing food and drink to King Edward Street. Everyone was in their full Scottish glory, munching on Arbroath Smokies - love the pic! - tasty lamb burgers from Jim Fairlie (flipped by Scottish Chef of the Year Graeme Pallister!) and a few Irn Bru Cupcakes from Big G. This was all washed down with Cairn O'Mohr, golden nector from the mead man and the world's best hot chocolate EVER from Procaffeinate - Claire even made her own flavoured Gingerbread and Salted Caramel syrups to keep the energy levels high enough for dancing!

Small City Cook demos went down a storm (obvs!) with Big G turning up in his kilt to make a Plum & Vanilla Gin Cheesecake, and Praveen Kumar filling the street with glorious aromas when he treated us to a Perthshire Lamb Indian Style. You were all super generous in your donations with £108.80 raised for Perth Foodbank in return for tasters galore from Pacos, Glendoick Garden Centre, Maxwell’s Desserts, Murrays Bakers and Provender Brown.

MUSIC FIT FOR A HOOLEY

It rocked, it tugged at heart strings and set hundreds of feet into a jig! The Main Stage was bigger and better than ever before with more musical highlights than you can shake a chanter at.

The anthems came from Scotland's first man of folk himself, Mr Dougie McLean, the Ferrets were as Mad as you'd expect and The Red Hot Chilli Pipers gave a foot stomping performance to bring the house down (but not the City Hall - dinnae panic!).

The Chilli Pipers also treated folks young and old to a ‘learn to play’ session which saw queues down the High Street as people waited for a wee shot on the famous pipes. Traditional Pipe Bands and the Civic Parade kept it all going and both locals and visitors alike filled the streets laughter, singing and plenty of dancing.

And if you'd liketo grab a real sense of Scottish pride, then check this out! @LaRetour from The Scotlanders was in town and wrote up a glowing review of the #SmallCity over on her blog. 

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GALLERY PHOTOGRAPHER: Ian Potter from PK Perspective, is a Perthshire based photographers who likes to get out and about looking for the next great shot.  He captured the essence of St Andrew's Day perfectly here - if you see anyone you know in the pics be sure to tag them!  You can view more from PK Perspective over on their site here>