Rural Community Gateway

For the organisers of a heritage festival there may be nothing better than seeing the community throng around the stalls to catch a glimpse of local crafts to the beat of a local band. With 750 inhabitants, the village of Johnshaven may be one of the smaller ones along the Aberdeenshire coast, but its annual Fish Festival held on an August Saturday is as crowded as Highland Gatherings elsewhere in Scotland.

Organised by Benholm and Johnshaven Heritage Society since 1996, the Johnshaven Fish Festival attracted around 5000 visitors in its heydays in 2003. 

Ironically, the gathering of these 5000 visitors in the narrow streets and harbour area of the steeply sloping village with rolling arable fields to the west and a rocky shoreline to the east, were exactly the cause of problems. In the eyes of present co-convenor Allen Smith people didn’t enjoy it anymore as they were unable to move between the stalls.

On top of that, the organisers felt the festival had become more like ‘a car boot sale’ than a celebration of local crafts. He continued to say that it was not easy to find the help and support required for the management of such a huge event. The necessary infrastructure such as wardens helping people to find parking space and things as simple as bins was not in place. Though it is important to have a contingency plan, the bureaucratic approach to these as taken by authorities proved complex and advice and assistance in applying it was hard to find.

Having successfully managed the Festival for ten years, the Benholm and Johnshaven Heritage Society handed over the responsibility for the event to a non-constituted, informal group of young people in 2007 and the festival was given a renewed focus on local heritage, activities and produce.

"Now we have reduced the number of stalls and focus on arts, crafts and entertainment," Allen said. As a result, visitors can now admire the work of the local woodturner, jeweller and chutney maker and taste fresh fish delivered by a fisherman from neighbouring Gourdon. Fellow co-convenor Kevin Dunbar added that restricting the advertising for the event to a smaller area meant that visitor numbers dwindled. The new group of organisers gave a sigh of relief when last year’s festival attracted 2,500 visitors only, a much better manageable crowd.

Young blood thus gave Johnshaven Fish Festival a second life. A specialist in rebranding in his professional life, Allen emphasised the positive slant with which the new model for the annual event was promoted: "It is important to retrace the roots of an event and identify the original objectives. For us it has been the realisation that the Fish Festival is a celebration of both our culture and our community, and an opportunity for everyone to interpret for themselves what it is like to live and work together in a coastal village such as Johnshaven. The new arrangement encourages this and defines the festival as a cultural event."

The planned handover of the organisation of Johnshaven Fish Festival, including the historical information and the sheds where the materials are stored, is part of a local culture of handing over the reins to a new team. Many other organisations within the village have encouraged younger members of the community to get involved and play active roles in managing projects and activities.

Whereas community organisations elsewhere may have fizzled out after encountering difficulties, Johnshaven Fish Festival has been reinvigorated to continue to benefit the community of Johnshaven. The income that in the past would have supported Benholm and Johnshaven Heritage Society is now deposited in a common good fund for the benefit of community groups. But above all the festival celebrates Johnshaven’s unique community spirit. Allen summarised what for him is best about the annual summer event: "Probably it is just seeing everybody in the village in the harbour area sitting together and enjoying the day."

Petra Vergunst works as a freelance journalist specialised in rural development and aims to inspire, inform and support rural communities in Grampian and beyond through journalism, public talks, visioning and community-based research. She is currently writing a book on the ways in which Scottish communities manage their assets. You can contact Petra at  petravergunst@tiscali.co.uk.

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