The organiser of Pitlochry’s Heartland Festival says he dreams of it growing to become a “mini Glastonbury for Scotland”.
This year’s gathering on June 28-29 will feature acts such as Skerryvore and Kyle Falconer.
Around 5,000 people are expected on the Saturday and 7,000 on the Sunday.
And it’s forecast to generate £1.8 million for the local economy.
Heartland Festival 2025 will once again take place at Pitlochry’s Recreation Ground.
Organiser Graham Howie has admitted he didn’t plan on bringing it back after he lost so much money on last year’s event.
It featured the likes of The View, Idlewild and Skerryvore.
But he says he agreed to it after people pleaded for a repeat of the “best festival” they’d ever been to.
Mr Howie was speaking as he presented his application for a public entertainment licence to Perth and Kinross licensing committee on Monday.
The Heartland Festival director told councillors the response from the community and the public to last year’s event had been “absolutely overwhelming”.
“I could take this to Stirling or to Dunfermline,” he added.
“But Pitlochry is my home.
“And I hope – with the continued support from the council and volunteers – that we can continue this festival and we can grow it into my dream to be a mini Glastonbury of Scotland for future.”
Heartland Festival-goers helped to and from Pitlochry
There is no camping on site. But there will be shuttle buses running to four local campsites – Grandtully Station Campsite, Aberfeldy Caravan Park, Faskally Caravan Park and Blair Castle Caravan Park.
In addition, there will be a link-up with FlixBus and Citylink, connecting the Highland Perthshire village to Scotland’s major cities.
The festival will finish an hour earlier at 10pm – rather than 11pm – to minimise disturbance and allow revellers to leave by bus.
Councillors were assured a “robust traffic management plan” will be in place.
And while there will be some traffic restrictions in place there will be no road closures.
‘Most neighbours were at last year’s festival’
The application received just one objection.
A neighbour, who lives 25 metres from the venue, raised concerns about noise and disturbance.
But an environmental health officer, who was on site throughout last year’s event, said there were no breaches and the team received no complaints.
She added: “I spoke to a number of neighbours round about and I think most of them were at the festival.”
The committee unanimously approved the application.
Conversation