The Dundee City Festival was one of the city’s most popular annual traditions and these colour photographs take us back to 1988.
The images were taken by DC Thomson photographers.
They have been newly digitised after gathering dust in a cardboard box.
The “Dundee City Festival” was founded in a spirit of optimism in October 1987.
A meeting was called at the Steps Theatre by a steering committee which wanted the city to rival Edinburgh and Glasgow “as the cultural centre of the north”.
People representing a wide section of groups, such as music, theatre, sport and art, pledged their support in getting a festival off the ground in 1988.
Nigel Hawkins was the chairman of the steering group.
“The response from the groups which attended was very encouraging,” he said.
“Not one person spoke out against a festival.
“I would have to say that it is definitely one step nearer now.”
He said a series of major events held in 1987, including the Witch’s Blood community theatre production, helped generate “new momentum” for a festival.
The Dundee City Festival was launched in the Caird Hall in February 1988.
It would take place during July, August and September.
Mr Hawkins said it would be “the largest event ever to be held in the city”.
Mr Hawkins said the city had come out of the doldrums following the return of the Discovery in 1986 and a series of events including Witch’s Blood.
Witch’s Blood, based on William Blain’s Dundee saga, was staged at several venues across the city, with a cast of hundreds of people, in 1987.
Now the steering committee wanted to pull a number of events on the calendar together and encourage new ones to make “one great celebration”.
Huge banners advertised 1988 Dundee City Festival
Mr Hawkins said it was anticipated the festival would become an annual event.
It was also hoped the event would boost Dundee’s reputation at home and abroad.
He urged people to turn out to give it the “best possible start”.
The committee wanted it to be a “real people’s festival”.
More than 300 events were scheduled.
There was “exhibitions of everything from photography to landscape paintings, shinty games, lowland games, variety shows, army displays and a model boat regatta”.
There was even a football match played on a sandbank in the middle of the Tay.
The events were complemented by the Dundee Jazz Festival, Dundee Water Festival and Dundee Community Festival which included a new production of Witch’s Blood.
A Japanese Festival was staged in the McManus and Seagate galleries.
These were heady days.
Streets were decorated to show where various events were being staged and “Dundee City Festival” banners were hung between the pillars of the Caird Hall.
It was intended to be a “celebration of life in Dundee”.
The message from the organisers was a simple one: “Use your energy and imagination to make July 10 the highlight of the year”.
The official opening was actually a week later than originally planned after being put back to avoid a clash with the Dundee Highland Games at Caird Park.
What route did the float parade take?
The festival began with a “huge carnival parade” through the streets at 2.30pm.
The Courier said it was a “riot of colour and spectacle”.
Floats were decorated according to three categories.
The first was the “Dundee – City of Discovery” theme and could relate to either “the RRS Discovery herself or to discovering things in and about Dundee”.
The Beano and The Dandy characters were the subject of the second category.
The Beano was celebrating its 50th anniversary in 1988.
The final section was “absolutely any theme which is not covered by the other two”.
The route was carefully planned by police and the roads department.
Local bus companies agreed to divert services.
Participants congregated in the car park to the north of the rail station.
From there they travelled up the Marketgait, Nethergate and High Street, up Commercial Street and then along Ward Road and back where they started.
There were smiling faces all round.
Comic characters brought plenty of laughs
Thousands lined the streets and watched the colourful parade of floats, marching bands, majorettes and dancers wind its way through the city centre.
There were people in fancy dress and comic characters.
“Dundee has never seen anything like it!” was The Courier headline.
The Courier said: “The centre of Dundee was packed with party crowds yesterday as the first Dundee City Festival got under way in brilliant sunshine.
“Thousands watched as a rousing pipe band led Dennis the Menace and Korky the Cat at the head of a mile-long procession to open the festival.
“The party continued later at Dudhope Park, when the happy crowds were able to enjoy a sunny afternoon of entertainment provided by local musicians.”
Centre of Dundee packed with party crowds
The Courier said the parade “choked the city centre for hours”.
“Police cordoned off the main streets and turned traffic away in preparation for the thousands of spectators thronging the centre,” it said.
“The crowds who turned out in bright summer sunshine were well rewarded.
“For over an hour a spectacular array of floats, ranging from a rusty banger decorated with balloons to an astounding Loch Ness monster snapping at onlookers and bowing to the judges, paraded through the city.”
All the entrants were judged by a special panel located in the City Square.
Highlights included a spectacular volcano, belching smoke on behalf of the Dundee Public Art Programme and the Bash Street Kids portrayed by Littlewoods staff.
Who won the prizes for best float in 1988?
A total of 62 entries paraded before the crowd.
Prizes worth £2,000 were on offer to the best of the floats.
The Hydro Board’s Loch Ness Monster won the open category.
In the Discovery category, the winning float was Friends of Dundee Heritage Trust.
The Antarctic scene depicted Captain Scott and his men from the Discovery, who were complete with fur coats, Antarctic ice floes and “shivery wind-effects”.
The comic characters floats section was won by Littlewoods’ Bash Street Kids.
A number of prizes were awarded to the best in each category.
Piper Alpha fund was boosted by donation
The Littlewoods winners asked that their £150 prize money should be given to the Piper Alpha appeal fund and the company agreed to match the donation.
Piper Alpha happened just four days before the festival.
Legendary oilfield firefighter Red Adair was still taming the flames of what became known as The Night The Sea Caught Fire and left 167 men dead.
The Hydro Board winners divided their £150 equally between the Brittle Bone Society and the Tayside Friends of ARMS, which is now the MS Therapy Centre.
The festival was a huge success.
It ended with a firework display between the road and rail bridges.
It returned in 1989 and was described as “Britain’s foremost community festival”.
The Dundee City Festival continued until the 1990s.
Conversation