Glastonbury may have been the headline news for music fans this weekend, but another festival made its mark on a smaller scale among the hills of Fife as 500 revellers descended on a farm near Auchtermuchty for an eco-friendly weekend of music, dancing, mountain-biking and more.
While the solar-powered, pedal-powered and wind-powered Wee Tree Party was dwarfed by Glastonbury, those attending had as much fun as those in Somerset.
It is the third year the environmentally-conscious festival has been held, but-having outgrown its previous home near Edinburgh-the first at its new location was kept secret to deter gatecrashers.
A friend of the organisers, Lola Oyebode, told The Courier, “It’s a brilliant weekend. There’s loads to do besides the music.”
The festival was first held by Mark Ravilious and Stuart Dickson as a party for friends, but when it became too expensive to run they decided 2009 would be the last.
However, another friend, Ian Saunders, stepped in, realising that if he could make it bigger it would be more financially viable.
Before the three-day event began on Friday, almost 300 tickets were sold, and musicians and guests were expected to total near 200.
Word of mouth and social networking website Facebook were used to get the message out, bringing people from as far afield as Sheffield.
Lola said, “It’s mostly friends of friends who come.
“If you ask people there they will know one of the organisers or know someone who knows one of the organisers.”
On its website the Wee Tree Party is billed as an “intimate, musical, mountain-biking, eco-festival embracing nature and celebrating summer”.
Festival-goers were encouraged to travel by the most environmentally-friendly means possible, whether cycling from Edinburgh, car-sharing or travelling by train and using a shuttle bus.
Among the more innovative uses of renewable energy was a pedal-powered ice-cream cart, while a pizza oven was created from clay dug up to create the long-drop toilets.
The bands line-up included Das Contras, Banana Sessions, Psylent V and Lorraine McCauley and the Borderlands.
Daytime events included a “back to school” sports day and workshops including African drumming, break-dancing and screen-printing.