Edinburgh's Meadows Festival 2024: All you need to know about two-day festival in city centre park

One of the UK’s largest community festivals with the biggest outdoor market in Edinburgh, and something for all ages, takes place in the city centre this weekend.

Meadows Festival Edinburgh will be held at the park off Melville Drive this Saturday and Sunday, June 1 and 2.

Established in 1974 the Meadows Festival has been run on the first weekend of June almost every year since. Last year, 25,000 people attended the annual festival, with organisers hoping to see similar numbers join them for the 49th year of the festival.

Bands will perform live music across the weekend at Meadows Festival. Photo from 2019 by Greg Macvean. | Greg Macvean Photography

What’s on offer?

There is so much to do at the festival, from the Children and Families’ Area, to the Dog Show, Performance Area, Totally Sound Futures Stage showcasing local youth music, and the Main Stage with local artists performing live.

The children and families area includes a creative outdoor play area, arts and crafts tent, family yoga, learning through exercise, and fun races. There is also the Shinty Sports Arena with a series of sporting events taking place over the two days.

A host of Edinburgh DJs will be providing some electronic music goodies as well as some sunny tunes if the weather’s up for it. And as always, there will of course be lots of food and non-food stalls for you to browse and hopefully pick up a bargain.

There will be plenty of shinty action at the weekend at the Meadows. Photo from the 2019 festival, by Greg Macvean. | Greg Macvean Photography

Cost

Entry to the volunteer-led festival is free but visitors may want to bring money for food, drinks and items for sale at the market. For those who wish to enter their pets in Sunday’s dog show and greyhound parade, entry is £2 per category, with all donations set to be given to the Scottish Greyhound Sanctuary.

A map of the festival site at the Meadows for this weekend. | Sub

Timings

Both days kick-off at 10am and finish at 7pm. Stages and stalls will run until 6pm, with the festival’s two bars set to close shortly before 7pm.

Line-up for the Tonegarden Studios main stage, Saturday, June 1: 11am, Rock Choir; 12pm, Archie Topp; 1pm, The Menagerie; 2pm, Sophie Penman Music; 3pm, K A J A music; 4pm, Patagonia Latin Sound; 5pm, Abbie Bell & The High Ryes.

Sunday, June 2: 11am, Einstein's Wardrobe; 12pm, Nama Kuma; 1pm, Paper Sparrows; 2pm, So Boring; 3pm, Grace & The Flat Boys; 4pm, India Arkin; 5pm, Samodiva Nestya.

There will also be an open mic stage at the festival on Saturday,

Meadows Fun Dog Show on Sunday, June 2: Fun dog sessions start at 12.30pm and 2.30pm. The Greyhound Parade starts at 3.30pm.

Children and families area events Saturday, June 1: 11am-12pm, Watercolour magic with Erica; 2pm-3pm, Impressive impressionism with Erica; 11am-12pm and 2pm-3pm, Young minds, offering emotional learning through exercise.

Sunday, June 2: 12.30pm-1.30pm, Silly surrealism with Erica; 12pm - 1pm and 2pm - 2.30pm, Young minds, offering emotional learning through exercise.

The sun is expected to shine on the festival this Saturday.

Weather

The Met Office is predicting that Saturday will be sunny all day in the Meadows. With a temperature of 15C when gates open at 10am, rising to a high for the day of 19C at 4pm, and dropping to 18C when the festival ends for the day at 7pm. A slight breeze all day could make it feel more like a degree or two cooler.

Sunday is forecast to be cloudy at the Meadows Festival, with the temperature at 15C when gates open at 10am and a high of 18C at 4pm, with a slight drop to 17C by 7pm. There is currently a 10 per cent chance of rain between 1pm and 4pm on Sunday.