As the pandemic cuts a swathe through Hogmanay celebrations for the second year running, it’s good to remember the way we were.
It feels like a long time ago that Highlanders got together in the streets to revel the night away in a Hogmanay hoolie with a reputation for friendliness and bonhomie.
Who knew on December 31 2019, that the increasingly popular Red Hot Highland Fling wouldn’t be back for two years and much-loved compere comedian Craig Hill would have to keep his trademark pink kilt and wicked banter under wraps, perhaps retiring early this year with a mug of cocoa instead.
It’s hard to believe now but there was quite an outcry when it was decided to switch Inverness’s public Hogmanay party from the town centre in 1997.
Members of the public and businesses alike inundated the organisers, the Inverness Project, with objections to the idea- taking the street party away from the streets seemed unthinkable.
The decision had been made following safety concerns after more than 5,000 people crowded the Highland capital for the Christmas lights switch-on.
The event was described as a shambles, and the police welcomed the idea of moving the party across the river to Bught Park, a 15-minute walk from the town centre.
Unprecedented security was put in place with more than 10,000 revellers expected to attend.
The party started on the High Street with the Ben Wyvis pipe band, before shifting to Bught park.
Any misgivings about the event soon faded as Celtic band Wolfstone enthralled the crowds leading up to fireworks at midnight.
Police praised the behaviour of the public while noting that having the party in the Bught halved the number of people.
Nonetheless, the stage was set for future Hogmanay nights away from the town centre.
Inverness became a city in 2000, and the following Hogmanay saw a doubling of visitors to a Riverlights spectacular, with an early-evening fireworks display and laser show, and the switching on of new illuminations along the banks of the River Ness.
The weather has taken its toll on several Inverness Hogmanay parties over the past two decades.
In 2010, heavy snowfall and deteriorating weather saw the show cancelled- but somehow the message didn’t get through to the Red Hot Chilli Pipers who turned up only to find the event cancelled.
In 2007, the city gloated just a little as Edinburgh’s celebrations were cancelled due to weather, but Inverness put on a spectacular launch to the Highland Year of Culture, despite gale warnings.
Now based in the Northern Meeting Park, the Highland capital’s Hogmanay shindig has grown to become ‘the biggest hoolie in the Highlands.’
Bands such as Tide Lines, Braebach, Blazin Fiddles, Skippinish, Dorec-A-Belle and the Trad Project have had audiences jumping, singing and dancing in recent years.
The crowds have been bumper, the atmosphere family-friendly, and relations with the law have been most cordial.
There’s no doubt many Invernessians, and those who used to come into the city for the night from further afield, will redouble their celebrations next Hogmanay if, pandemic and weather permitting, the Red Hot Highland Fling can rise again to ring in the New Year with laughter and music.
