Plans for a festival celebrating Dumbarton have been postponed by a further year – with organisers calling for the River Leven to be cleared up before any showcase takes place.
Originally due to take place in June 2020, the festival was set to celebrate the town’s rich history with a packed schedule of events based around local landmarks including the town’s iconic Rock and Castle.
Boat races, live music and a parade linked to the national celebrations of the Year of Coasts and Waters were all set to take place.
The event was also set to coincide with the ever popular Rock of Ages celebrations, which will take place in June this year,
There were even hopes that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Earl and Countess of Dumbarton, could make their first visit to the town for the event.
However, those plans were put on ice as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the festival now on hold until the summer of 2023.
Paul Neeson, chair of the event organisers, explained that the decision was made to avoid the celebrations clashing with any plans to mark 800 years of Dumbarton as a Royal Burgh this year.
He told the Lennox: “The idea for the festival started back in 2015 and we’d gained quite a bit of momentum. We had a whole plan when Covid struck.
“The plan was to run the festival so it didn’t coincide with some of the plans to celebrate the anniversary of Dumbarton getting Royal Burgh status.
“There is no official festival planned for this year, it will be next year. We hope that it will concentrate on the town and the surroundings, and doesn’t have the Royal aspect hanging over it.
“We want the focus to be fully on Dumbarton.
“It’s been a nightmare year really. The castle has been closed because there are surveys being carried out. We want that open, we want the walkway open.”
Paul added that he hopes the delay will allow for abandoned boats blighting the River Leven in the town to be removed.
He continued: “The River Leven looks dreadful when the tide is out with the boats that have been abandoned. It looks absolutely awful.
“At the festival we want to have a canoe and kayak race from the old bridge to the castle. But there is no way we could do that and feel that there wasn’t a potential safety issue.
“Some of the boats have been in there for years and years. It’s a disgrace that they’ve not been taken care of.
“It doesn’t showcase the town well at all.
“How can we say to the numpties who throw their fish and chips or McDonalds wrappers on the ground to tidy it up when we have these old wrecks sitting in the Leven?”
The issue was also highlighted by Conservative councillor for Lomond Sally Page, who last year said: “It would be very nice if, for the Royal Burgh celebrations, we could make an effort to tidy up the river.
“It has the potential, if it was tidier, for people to come on day-trips. They might moor up beside Dumbarton and pop into the town for lunch.
“There is the potential for boat tourism. Just not at the moment, where it doesn’t look as attractive as it could do.
“Environmentally it’s not great either to have those boats rotting away. Boats have engines and engines have fuel in them.”
A spokeswoman for West Dunbartonshire Council said: “The council has a duty to ensure that the navigable channel remains safe and passable and our focus remains on removing any vessel that causes an obstruction. We make every effort to contact the owners of any abandoned boats to request removal.”
