Feedback on this year’s Big Tent
We’d love to hear your Big Tent stories - was it Phil Kay singing with his army of kids, the Chipolatas, having mussels and wine in the sunshine, getting your face painted, taking part in the debates?
Who won the battle of the headliners, King Creosote or the Peatbogs? Who was your favourite international act?
Let us know what you thought of it all - the food, the entertainment, the venue, the camping, the free bus, the atmosphere, the parking, anything. We welcome any feedback on how to make things better and better.
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July 29th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Here’s a video we have been sent of Grassroots Zimbabwe:
July 29th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Totally brilliant guys .. couldnt have wiped the smile off my face with a punch!!!
Keep it goin on the same scale .. was perfect .. peatbogs were fantastic and i loved the fact that the kids pretty much had the front of the stage .. as it should be!! got it booked for next yr already … thank you very much …. and you have inspired a new favourite drink … spring oak cairn’o’ more …. mmmmmmmm mmmmmm…i felt entirely safe and relaxed the whole time … is falkland modelled on camelot??? hehehe i think iv expressed my self now .. see you next yr xxxxxxxxx
July 29th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
B Raymond & The Voicettes’ stage invasion.
July 30th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Absolutely fantastic weekend. We enjoyed the Organic beer, lol, and the steak burgers went down a treat. There was plenty to keep the kids happy and the atmosphere was friendly and trouble free. The music on both days was perfect and we can’t wait for next years festival.
A credit to the organisers…
July 30th, 2008 at 7:19 am
What an absolutely fantastic festival from start to finish- the whole family loved it. The kids learned heaps, the adults too and the kids rocked all night. Only gripes were some of the stalls finished too early and not enough good food stalls- but they are minor. We will be back next year
July 30th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Great stuff - really liked the friendly vibe. Much more relaxed than other festivals I’ve been to, and also really enjoyable to find out so much of it was local. The queue for the bison burgers was so long it made me want to get one and at the same time I couldn’t be bothered!
The only downside for me was the large, free car park. I guess if people have paid for their camping and / or tickets then perhaps they should get free parking. But for lazy gits who drive there with only one person in the car like *cough* me *cough*, I think a financial incentive would work. How about charging an extra quid for every free seat in a car? To be honest I was in such a rush I’d probably have paid £3, but that money could have gone back into the festival, and would probably have meant more people getting public transport. It’s difficult to know whether that would stop people coming altogether though. Just a thought…
July 31st, 2008 at 3:08 am
Big Tent 2008 grew up, got funky, and blazed a fantastic trail …
Mike, Helen, Lesley and the team have pulled off an extraordinary feat of talks that actually mattered about the future of our places; brilliant bands with messages aligned to the festival (and great diversity - don’t get too much bigger/big-time like this - keep the local flavours and the visiting musical magicians); incredible local food (mussels at a festival?! AMAZING); beautiful childrens stuff; perhaps most of all an incredibly friendly, happy and LOCAL atmosphere - human scale, and big enough to connect to global stuff but staying rooted in all the amazing things Falkland and Fife have to offer. I’ve already heard a dozen anecdotes about new connections made, old friendships sparked, and activist inspiration girded… onwards and upwards.
Great job folks. Can’t wait for next year.
And thanks sun, too. July definitely a better bet. And maybe more children than last year - this time on their own terms and not herded through in classes….
July 31st, 2008 at 3:36 am
A big congratulations and thank you to all the organisers and voluteers at the big tent. It was definatley one of the best stewardship festivals I have ever attended!! It was a lovely place to run a workshop at and you couldn’t beat the wine tasting event for winding down afterwards ;0)
A great mix of music, creativity, chilling out, fun and new learning opportunities. Its also such a fantastic festival for kids was quite jealous of all the fun things they could do.
Hope to see you all there again next year x
p.s. Perhaps more veggie food options would be good though.
July 31st, 2008 at 4:00 am
we loved the bit tent! we’re planning on coming back next year:
highlights were the Chipolatas, the fascinating bee man, and the lovely atmosphere and things for kids to do.
We were camping and the one thing I though could be improved would be some washing areas, and maybe you could persuade the organic food producers to do some more substantial meals for people staying overnight - all the snacky things were lovely but I could have eaten a big curry!
July 31st, 2008 at 5:02 am
Hi guys
Thank you so much Helen, Mike, Ninian and team – we had a wonderful weekend- a brilliant festival! Highlights for us were:: Phil Kaye and the ‘kids show’ singing the wheels on the bus, the sun, Grassroots Zimbabwe dancing with the Peatbog faeries, the straw bales, the real ale and compostable glasses, the face painting, making metal sculptures using cuttlefish skeletons, the smoked haddies, singing along with KC and the Fence Collective ‘happy every day even though I’m stuck in Fife’, the Chipolatas (watched their show twice!) and the SUN (again!)
Downside was the camping – for the charge the amenities were unbelievably sparce (only one tap for water in the car park, virtually no re-fills of the solar showers and water bags outside the compost toilets, no recycling with the two bins overflowing by Saturday and not emptied until Monday.) Realise that it was ‘Tangerine Fields’ that organised this side so will also feedback to them. I think you could do a MUCH better job next year at running an eco campsite and keep the camping charge for Falkland and the Big Tent.
Thanks again - we will definitely be back next year!
July 31st, 2008 at 6:16 am
Good Morning Guys
Just a quick one from everyone at Woodschool and buyDesign thanking you for such a great event. Thanks for looking after us from arrival to departure and for organizing the fantastic weather in between. The messaging that is sent out in Big Tent web site, promotional literature, the layout of the physical site, the general calmness and confidence of the event is very unique and unusual. You have got the formula right.
We attend a lot of events and subsequently meet a lot of organization, event coordination, and people. Big Tent is unflappable (no pun intended). Well done guys book us up for a space next year.
Regards
Everyone at buyDesign
July 31st, 2008 at 10:49 am
I came over from Ireland for the festival and have to say it was well worth it. I’ll be back next year for sure. Don’t be tempted to go too much bigger.
The mix of creativity, music, good food, information and inspiring talks was just right. And of course the weather helped. Well done to all involved, you should start selling tickets for 2009 now cos you are bound to sell out when word gets out.
Brilliant.
July 31st, 2008 at 11:41 am
Hi to the whole Big Tent crew,
Hope you are all chilling and bathing in a warm afterglow. I really enjoyed the event…the balance of talks and music, kids and adult, shops and workshops, was great…LOVED the Fife food-fest and the Falkland Food logo’s everywhere although the veggie options came to too early an end on Saturday.
Highlights for me…Tom Leonard’s poetry, the kids lined up at the feet of the Peatbogs, cloud-spraying, hydrogen-popping scientists, Elfie and the other small people getting hours of mileage out of a sop of straw, the FOOD, John Langan, old friends I hadn’t seen for ages.
Probably scope to expand a wee bit but hope we wont get too big…looking forward to next year already.
Hugs and Thanks,
Tara
July 31st, 2008 at 11:46 am
Thanks for all your comments and responses.
On the issue of camping we realise that there is much room for improvement in lots of areas. This was our first year doing it and we will improve things, don’t worry. The challenge is to provide appropriate but low impact conditions for two or three days out of the year. I think a separate family / quiet camping is one idea we’ll be exploring. We also acknowledge we need to improve the showers / toilets and general management of the site, including re-cycling. Having said that having cleared up the site you were a very tidy lot.
On the cars - and transport in general - we worked hard to generate a sustainable transport plan -but we are small charity and got no support from the private transport companies. The ideal would be to reduce year on year the size of the car park. The issue about charging is that will people then try and park elsewhere to avoid paying - and will this have a knock-on effect on the village or surrounding countryside. We’ll certainly look at it.
On food in general - we thought we had loads of ‘good food’ stalls - and we did have Cairnie Fruits there as well as other veggie stuff, but as with all your comments and feedback - we will take it all on board as we review the best way to do things and listen to your experiences.
Thanks again for all your comments and keep them coming.
Mike
July 31st, 2008 at 1:38 pm
We were big tent virgins and had a great time, the music was fantastic, especially Nuala Kennedy and the atmosphere was lovely and chilled. Good beer too!
But… we were tres annoyed to see people free camping in the car park when we had stumped out £25 (quite pricy) for a minimalistic campsite (washing up places fairly essential I would have thought) and it was very noisy in our supposedly quieter side of the campsite.
More food stalls (especially veggie) would be welcome, and also stuff that kept on going later.
August 1st, 2008 at 5:43 am
Very well done, and thank you for the Big Tent festival. Our family of 4 had a great time, and the kids enjoyed every minute. Can’t wait to do it again. The best bits for us:-
-The location was perfect (esp the hidden-ish mind / body bit and where the main stage was).
-childrens activities were really nicely laid out, and good variety.
-Dancing (thats from a 4 yr old, she had great fun boogying in front of the stage)
-The chipolatas - superb family entertainment
-The beer was very nice
-The size was perfect - enough for a whole weekend, not too much to get lost / lose people
-Everything / everyone v friendly.
Ideas for improvements:-
Camping
- As said by others, washing facilities, maintained regularly
- more toilets
- better security, especially at night (didn’t seem to be anyone keeping an eye out, and certainly no-one noticing when people kicked over the hay-bale-barrier, leaving gaps for kids to run into the car park, or keeping the late-night noise to an acceptable level)
- recycling (but you say you know that)
- maybe some supplies close to the site, so you could buy food or something on the campsite without having to be totally self-sufficient or head off the the festival / village
- water - took a while for it to be set up, and was quite far away
- free campers in the car park - bit of a snub, as said by others
And on the festival -
- more variety in food options - the bbq style meat-fest and veggie options were good, but other things too to entice… maybe some good local restaurants / cafes having an area???
- prices - we didn’t mind paying for activities once inside, but it would’ve been helpful if it had been clear in the programme which were ‘included’ in the entry fee, and which required a payment / donation (and donation to what?)
Looking forward to seeing the plans for next year
Lins
xx
August 1st, 2008 at 10:31 pm
The music, the acts, the traders, the food, the ambience, all heavenly. Even the weather. But think how it could have been if instead of 15 bikes (roughly, that I counted) and a vast sea of cars, it could have been the other way round. To cycle from LadyBank station, through dead flat countryside was a perfect doddle. Roll on £30 a gallon……cant wait.
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:12 am
For all the camping moaners - me and my kids camped for four days for £25 and had a lovely time! Have any of you looked at the prices of other festivals???? Yes you had to walk - what 200 yards to get water in the field? - but you know my legs survived this ordeal.
Nuala Kennedy and the Peatbogs were my favourites. A wonderful wonderful experience - the best festival Ive been to in 20 years.
August 2nd, 2008 at 9:01 am
Thanks for having us at Big Tent - we really enjoyed the festival and bringing Mapland Scotland, there were lots of enthusiastic children (and adults!!).
Also, thanks to your helpful volunteers who found a door for our tent and also a carpet for the entrance, all at a time when they were under pressure…..
Congratulations on a successful festival.
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:18 am
Abdoujaparov in the Wee Shindig Tent was the highlight of my visit. I will look out for them in the future. Frank and Walters took me back about 15 years, which is always good.
One minor complaint - More than two wheelie bins in the campsite for next year might be a good idea.
August 3rd, 2008 at 9:24 am
Came through from Glasgow on the Saturday,not sure what to expect. Although camping, we were directed to an overspill car park quite a distance from the campsite, as such, spent quite a while sorting out the tent. The remainder of Saturday was fantastic, great music, great food, loads for the kids and KC was a fantastic way to round off the evening. Agree with comments re the camp site on Saturday night / Sunday am - re the noise. Comment to Tangeringe Fields, please set a charge for the pitch not per person. Excellent day on Sunday. Phill Kay was a great host. A massive well done and thank you to all those involved in the organisation. Kids had a great time and their parents had one of the most relaxing weekends we can remember for a while!
Looking forward to next year.
August 3rd, 2008 at 10:00 am
The atmosphere of the festival was fantastic, and the food and drink available was very nice indeed and of a good quality.
The special buses from Markinch station were most handy, particularly for coming from the west of Fife, and it was good to see they also ran later in the evening too.
It was good to see a wide range of bands too. The Frank & Walters and Abdoujaparov were both wonderfully entertaining, and I can certainly see the attraction of the Chipolatas.
Looking forward to next year already
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
We arrived at The Big Tent on the Saturday morning, tent in the car, the kids were to decide if we were going to stay on the Saturday night or not, we were only in the Festival 10 minutes and there was a unanimous “Lets stay”
As someone above said, the camping should be per pitch, not per person, I got away with an adult and two kids, next year it will be two adults one child, a big difference to the cost.
The atmosphere was fantastic and safe, I had no problem letting my 11 & 12 year olds wander around unsupervised, albeit with their phones switched on.
The highlight for my girls was the tent with the skunks/parrot, the huge jigsaw and the crafts area where they made necklaces and butterflies, the also enjoyed the Chipolatas
For me the highlights were John Coletta, Abdoujaparov and The Frank and Walters, the latter two I knew of before the festival.
The organic cider was also very nice , best enjoyed perched on a hay bale in the glorious sunshine.
All in all a fantastic weekend and we will all be back next year, with a hopefully few more people who I have told about the festival.
August 4th, 2008 at 4:26 am
Hi there,
i put a few clips from my mobile phone on YouTube.
Best regards, Barry
The Chipolatas
The Chipolatas
King Creosote and Friends
King Creosote and Friends
King Creosote and Friends
Guy on pipes at the end…
August 5th, 2008 at 3:58 am
Class that B Raymond & Voicettes stage invasion took place only after their fans checked their watches and made sure they would not miss last Big Tent Bus to Glenrothes! Anarchy lives - as long as I’m home for me supper!
August 5th, 2008 at 6:23 am
We’ve always went to the Big Tent Festival but this was the best by far!!! absolutely fantastic. We saw the Chipolatas 3 times! the kids loved them and I thought they were really quirky and amazing too. The Peatbog Faeries were the best and the atmosphere was terrific. If we could guarantee this kind of weather every year we’d be happy bunnies :o) We camped for 4 nights and it was the cheapest holiday and the best that I’ve had in a long time. The kids had a ball too and got on really well together.
August 5th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
What a totally amazing weekend - just fantastic ! Highlights included Fraser Fifield and Graeme Stephen in the Wee Shindig and then again on the main stage - what outstanding musicianship -blew us away ! A fantastic atmosphere all round - perhaps more food would have been good though but will definately be back - one of the best festivals we’ve been to. Well done !!
Lynsey
August 6th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
This was a fantastic event. There was something for everyone - a great mix of music and activities. Not as hippy as I’d feared! Was great that the kids could learn about the environment in a fun way and they are still playing with their paper butterflies. Thanks!
August 11th, 2008 at 4:00 am
Hi there! Firstly, I would give the big thanks to all the organization and volunteers who made a fantastic work. I’m from Barcelona, and I really enjoyed at the festival, however, I could see the “another” festival cause I participated like volunteer and I’m very glad for the nice people who I could met. The moment of the festival was Frank& the Walters in the small tent dancing ang singing Funky cold Medina, exhilarating!
August 12th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
A truly inspiring event, I sat through most of the speakers on the Saturday then met tons of friends and loved King Creosote. Is there a better networking festival for the environment movement? Not with beer as good as that and where its not just okay to bring the kids but they are actually catered for. Superb.
August 13th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
The festival was interesting, although too little of too much as far as I am concerned. I felt that it tried to be a Jack of all trades, and would personally have appreciated more environmental “stewardship” concerned topics presented.
The actual Tent part of the festival was abysmal, beyond anything I could ever have imagined. After two nights with three hours of sleep due to partying in neighbouring tents we had to leave, despite having paid for 4 nights. I find it almost criminal to advertise this as an ecological camping site with solar showers running out of water at 7.30 in the morning and two compost toilets (4 holes) for well over 1000 people. Really a scam.
The best of the weekend was the Transition Gathering that took place on the Friday before the gathering. A wonderful bunch of inspiring and energising people gathered to share experience of “transition” in Scotland. Deep thanks to the organisers of that event.
August 14th, 2008 at 1:05 am
Dear Carin,
We appreciate your comments about the campsite. As Mike has said, this was our first time at taking on the camping and we will be learning a lot from our experience this year - there was, we recognise, much room for improvement. We realised that the compost toilets were not going to cope with the 200 campers (not 1000) so we brought in other toilets to assist.
Our festival programme was purposely crafted to appeal to a whole range of ages and different levels of appreciation of environmental issues. I am sure that the Transition Scotland organisers will welcome your thanks for their event.
Best wishes
Helen and the Big Tent team
August 20th, 2008 at 8:58 am
What an amazing event. Thank you so much! Had a fab time with the family and considering I have two kids under 12 and one not so young wife in toe we got so much out of the weekend for such a small amount (£). We camped two nights and despite a bit of noise (which you have to expect at a festival) it was great. Must stress that there was sooo much to do everyone must come for the weekend and make the most out of their meagre £14 ticket! Up the price next year (but not T in the Park prices) - its worth it
Well done guys - you should be proud!
August 25th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
My best bit was on the sunday afternoon, late on, looking at the hill from near the main stage, over the top of the crowd. My kids were all bouncing around in hay bale heaven. I stood, looked at the crowd, the setting, the hill, the sunshine, my children, and thought of all I had learned over the weekend. I thought to myself, WOW, what a place! I realised, this is not just a weekend, its up to me and every one of us here to carry this on every day and every weekend. What lessons I have learned.Then I thought, oh my god, I am so lucky, this is where I live!
Happy happy days, Thank-you all involved in big and small and evey way. You know who you are.
Love Aislinn.
September 28th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Know this is a bit late but just a few words to say how much we enjoyed the Big Tent.
Have to say Grassroots Zimbabwe were fabulous and of course the Peatbogs, I couldn’t walk the next day for dancing and leaping about so much.
This was our first time at Big Tent and planning to bring the rest of the family next year. My grandaughter would have loved it, we have shown her pictures we took and she can’t wait ’til next year.
Must reflect what others have said about the food. There was no veggie stuff after 5pm (or if there was I couldn’t find it), just glad we had a snack or two with us as to do without food from then ’til the end of night would have been to much for me. I think some of the traders weren’t expecting so much trade as a few ‘ran out’ early on.
We didn’t camp as I thought it a bit to pricey at £25 each (or did I get that wrong as well!).
Agree with others also that it shouldn’t get any bigger and I liked the mix of music and that I could see mostly all of the bands/artistes having the 2 tents.
Such a lot to keep most folk occupied I’ve raved on about it to lots of folk. Already booked that weekend off for next year.
Thank you all for such a great time.
October 1st, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Hi Guys
I am rather late too, but better late than never. Just really going to echo what everyone else has said. We only went on the Sunday as we REALLY wanted to see the Peatbog Faeries again. Had to leave a very disgruntled 18yr old at his work but we did make the point of sending LOTS of pictures and video clips hahahahah. We had a 7 and 3 yr old with us and they had an absolute ball. My son was on the stage for the Peatbogs and my 3yr old couldn’t eat her supper for having to get up and dance!! I’ve never really been to anything like this before and the kids are already harrassing us to go next year and the oldest one has reserved time off.
I hope the food supplies for next year are a bit better stocked up so they don’t run out. Also it would have been REALLY nice to be able to get even a cup of coffee after 8pm. Sorry suppliers, I know you were all just about dropping on your feet.
October 13th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
By far the most family friendly festival out there.Plenty to do and see for all ages.Phil kay an absolute comic genius and master compere,he should be a permanent fixture.Keep things just as they are don’t be tempted to expand it’s perfect just as it is