Moffat pupils helped spark a new Dumfries and Galloway Carnival costume after speaking with the Carnival team at a Bang Goes DG event delivered with Developing the Young Workforce (DYW).
Moffat pupils helped spark a new Dumfries and Galloway Carnival costume after speaking with the Carnival team at a Bang Goes DG event delivered with Developing the Young Workforce (DYW).
The young people shared their enthusiasm for digital dairy farming and explained why they see it as part of Dumfries and Galloway’s future.
Their insight has now inspired a Carnival costume celebrating the region’s dairy sector, its innovation and the opportunities emerging for the next generation. With this year’s theme of Legends, the project shows how young people’s ideas and interests are helping to shape Carnival - and celebrates the farmers and innovators they see as legends in their own right. Young people from 58 schools and nurseries across Dumfries & Galloway are already getting ready to take part in January's Carnival - making it the festival's biggest youth participation programme to date.. Artists from across Dumfries & Galloway are travelling far and wide to get young people ready for January’s Carnival.
With 58 secondary schools, primary schools and nurseries already involved - and more joining - children from across the region will come together to light up Dumfries town centre for the Carnival Parade on Saturday 30 January, expected to attract more than 18,000 people. Alongside the schools programme, young people are taking part in 12-week after-school Academies in Costume Design and Digital Arts. Twenty-three pupils from Dumfriesshire, Stewartry and Annandale are already signed up, creating work that will premiere as part of what is expected to be one of Scotland’s biggest street parades.
This year’s theme is Legends of Dumfries & Galloway, with young people bringing local stories, heroes and legends to life - from Spitfire Spies commemorating RAF Dumfries to the Protectors of Sweetheart Abbey in New Abbey. Dumfries & Galloway Carnival is the new name for Big Burns Supper.
The completely free festival runs from 29-31 January 2027 and includes the return of Northern Lights Dumfries, the Winter Village and Burns Light at the Burns Mausoleum, alongside the world premiere of the new 360° Rave Experience Dumfries & Galloway Carnival’s young people’s programme is made possible with the generous support of The Holywood Trust.
