August is a busy time for Edinburgh.
It’s a time when tourists seem to multiply and the local uproar seems to heighten. Celeb sightings abound, and Airbnb’s sky rocket.
The days are typically warm and drier than July.
Sure, the sun starts to take herself to bed a little bit earlier each night, and new construction paths and pesky wasps seem to emerge out of nowhere.
But, August is the one month of the year where global culture originates from Scotland.
It’s the month of festivals.
There are four main festivals during August: The Edinburgh International Book Festival (BookFest), The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, The Edinburgh International Festival, and The Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Socially, most people use The Fringe, or the Festival, as all-encompassing terms to mean any one of those festivals. Other people are very particular.
The OG festival is The Edinburgh International Festival, started post-WWII as a cultural event to bring together artists and audiences from around the world. You’ll see the most high-bro, famous names and titles as part of this festival.
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is just as old, but it is like the misunderstood baddie turned goodie from a young adult novel. Not being a part of the official program, a group of performers staged their shows along the ‘fringe’ of the festival, earning the title The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Nowadays, there are several official areas of the Fringe, but still hundreds of business that turn part of their physical place into a venue for Fringe performers. You have the Fringe to thank for any successful (and loads of unsuccessful) British or European comedian you’ve every heard of, and Fleabag.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival is just that - a film festival. It usually runs for about a week, and is a sub-set of the Edinburgh International Festival. It’s not Cannes, but there are high-profile and very artsy titles shown here.
My personal favorite is The Edinburgh International Book Festival (BookFest), a cozy corner of the art college that hosts superb outdoor space and a fantastic bookstore set in an old fire station. Any author you’ve ever read has likely spoken, signed for autographs and sold their books at the Book Festival. Seeing authors of all walks mingling about, sipping white wine and pints.
But, to get back to the title: why is it the most amazing month for Edinburgh?
The city comes alive in a way I’ve never seen before.
Of course, there are tourists in groups being led by umbrellas and tourists walking solo across the street when they shouldn’t and tourists taking up all the outdoor tables.
But, it’s more than just the sheer volume of people descending to Edinburgh that shake the city alive.
It’s the bars that have turned their back space into a Fringe venue. It’s turning a corner and seeing an empty stretch of the road turned into an outdoor pub. It’s attending a talk feeling closer than ever to that author. It’s showing up a comedy show snorting with laughter. It’s showing up a comedy show cringing and avoiding eye contact.
It’s see Ian Rankin walking through the commons, posing for pictures with fans. It’s showing up to the Pleasance, being handed flyer after flyer after flyer, seeing the brave souls who have committed to their art and storytelling. It’s showing up to the Pleasance and buying a random ticket last minute. It’s not knowing a performer and 60 minutes later, being obsessed with them. It’s the creative energy that encompasses you. It’s booking a ticket thinking it’ll be one thing and being surprised when it’s the other.
It’s the color that blankets the city from the flyers pasted in rows all around town. It’s your shoulders lowering, your mind clearing as you enter into the Festival universe.
It’s the seeing people of all shapes and sizes, skin tones and hair colors, fashion and styles, ages and accents. It’s a conglomerate, a melting pot. A trial and error for art and the authentic self.
It’s the start of a new year, an evolved culture, set amongst the stones and rabbles that have seen centuries go by. It’s the debates and discussions and opening of minds through creativity. It’s the power of word of mouth and newspaper reviews.
It’s the discovery of themes that connect us.
No one is jaded. No one is ‘so over it’. Even the locals who complain still look forward to see what will come from this year’s festival.
It is sheer inspiration and entertainment, in whatever form you seek.
Have you visited Edinburgh in August before? What did you think?