Dumfries and Galloway’s Youth Beatz Festival, intended to be a 2-day event for 40,000 young people from right across the region, took place on Saturday 25 June 2022 at Park Farm showfield in Dumfries.
On a weekend plagued by high winds, the event started on Saturday with an announcement of a delayed opening of the gates from 12 noon until 2pm. With the weather calming, event organisers were able to give the green light and open to an audience of 20,000 attendees and, despite the wait, the event has been hailed a roaring success by those in attendance.
The Children’s Area Big Top saw magical performances delivered throughout the afternoon, with opportunities for Under 12s to get messy, and creative provided by Rose W Therapies and Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Lifelong Learning Service. In addition, in keeping with the Scottish Governments themed year of storytelling, Moat Brae Trust’s Book Doctor and the Smart Network’s Play, Talk, Read bus provided the opportunity for children to creatively engage with literature. The entertainment was not limited to inside this space, with Becky Rose Yoga, Summerhill Community Centre, and the legendary Daffy Dill providing yoga classes, Disney Characters and bubble extravaganzas for the crowds as they entered the event.
At night, the Children’s Area transformed into a bustling Dance Tent with local acts Coll Irving from Annan and DJ J3NKO from Portpatrick performing their sets to ticket-holders.
Our Youth Enquiry Service Second Stage showcased young, up-and-coming talent from across Dumfries and Galloway and wider Scotland throughout the afternoon, with every performer scheduled able to take the stage and wow audiences with their talents. In the evening, I’M A RAVER headlined the stage to large crowds.
The Youth Zone, delivered in partnership between Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Youth Work Team and Young Leaders from the service, was jam-packed with activities for young people – from VIP Glam Pods, Festival Hair Stations, a Tiki mocktail bar, giant games and the opportunity for attendees to have their say on Dumfries and Galloway Youth Council’s Priorities and the Economic Impact Assessment for the event.
The Youth Information Marketplace provided a space for local and national partners including LGBT Youth Scotland, Better Lives Partnership, Glasgow Science Centre, Performance Collective Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway’s Citizens Advice Service, and Dumfries and Galloway College to highlight their work with young people.
The award-winning Toon, after a week of delivering tours to local secondary schools, opened their doors to deliver an incredible 25 tours to groups of young people throughout the afternoon. The Toon is an immersive drama production that is designed, scripted and performed by over 40 young volunteers to raise awareness of issues affecting young people in their daily lives, as well as working to ensure young people know where to go for support should they be affected. The issues explored within The Toon 22 included road safety, sexual health, poverty and inequality, drugs and alcohol, and bullying.
Daytime activities available which had no cost for attendees included the mobile zip line, inflatables, parkour zone, Galloway Activity Centre adventure area with laser tag and bubble football, and the Architects of Air Arboria II Luminarium, a 40+ meter structure that provided attendees with a truly unique sensory experience.
And we couldn’t mention Youth Beatz without highlighting the phenomenal headline acts for the Oasis Youth Centre Main Stage, Nathan Evans, Pixie Lott and Ella Eyre. The atmosphere at the main stage was amazing with children, young people and families singing their hearts out at the front of the audience.
Many people know Youth Beatz to be a 2-day music festival, however there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. Months of planning and programming by volunteers and youth workers takes place behind the scenes to bring the event to life. Before the weekend, the team build the site up from an empty field and in the week following the event, they work to ensure the field is left as found. In addition, our region-wide Fringe programme delivers in communities across Dumfries and Galloway in the week leading up to Youth Beatz weekend to take free events to local communities.
This year’s Fringe programme saw 12 events delivered in Kelloholm, Annan, Dalbeattie, Stranraer, Lockerbie, Dumfries, Thornhill, Castle Douglas, Newton Stewart and Moffat, from Beatz Fun Days for the whole family, to Silent Disco events, Schools Out sessions and Free Swimming Sessions – there was something for everyone. The final Youth Beatz Fringe event to take place on Thursday 23 June was the #WeCare Festival that took place at Park Farm Showfield.
#WeCare is the annual gathering of young people aged 12-25 who are care experienced in Dumfries and Galloway. Open from 1pm – 8pm, over 60 young people attended from towns and villages across the region. The afternoon programme included a combination of have your say workshops and outdoor leadership sessions, with the evening programme focussed on being a celebration event with food, fairground rides and entertainment. Between Friday 17 and Thursday 23 June over 800 young people participated in the Fringe.
The decision to cancel the second day of Youth Beatz Festival was taken on Saturday evening, amid worsening wind forecasts for Sunday 26 June. The site is populated with several large framed stage structures, marquees and big top tents, and the expected forecasts of high winds was above the safe operating limits of these structures and could have resulted in injury to attendees if the Sunday went ahead and the forecasts where correct. Ultimately, the decision was made to cancel the event considering the evidence provided by 3 different weather modelling systems that indicated wind speeds that would exceed those experienced-on Saturday morning.
A Spokesperson stated “If we made the decision to go ahead as planned, we would have been making the decision to risk the safety of all of our attendees, volunteers, contractors, performers and youth work team.
This decision was confirmed as correct when the Youth Beatz site went into a full lock-down on Sunday afternoon after extreme wind exceeded several of the structures wind capacity making them structurally unsafe.
Despite Youth Beatz not being what we had all hoped for, the feedback received from those who attended on Saturday has been overwhelmingly positive. Families, young people and youth organisations from across the country have been reaching out to show their support for the event and to share their experiences of their time at #YB22.
We look forward to seeing you all in 2023.”
