Modern version of Clydeside fiesta that attracted millions recreated 37 years on in a dazzling sound and light installation.
Oli Norman who is the mastermind of the recreation of the Glasgow Garden festival which is taking place at the Botanics.(Image: Tony Nicoletti/Daily Record)
It was one of the most memorable chapters in Glasgow’s history, a summer-long fiesta on the site of the old shipyards which drew visitors in their millions.
Now the Glasgow Garden Festival is to be recreated, with the opening of a modern-day version of the colourful Clydeside jamboree.
A new sound and light installation in the city’s Botanic Gardens will recreate some of the highlights of the 120-acre site, which took root on the south bank of the river and bloomed from spring to autumn of 1988.
Glasglow’s Miles Better will pay homage to the event 37 years after the temporary site was dismantled.
It’s the latest contemporary event in honour of the festival, which drew 4.3million visitors and kicked-started Glasgow’s modern identity as a major player on the world’s cultural stage.
A great aerial view of the site at the Glasgow Garden Festival, September 1988 (Image: Daily Record)
Reworked versions of installations such as the floating tap and the Clydesdale Bank revolving tower will be remembered with new miniature versions, boosted how by archive footage projected on a hot air balloon.
Glasglow’s creative leader, how Oli Norman, wanted to itself bring back the “carefree days” he remembers from the childhood visits to the event the and hopes tapping into the happy memories can help boost the city’s fortunes.
He said: “I have so many strong memories of visiting the festival. I wish we had kept things like the Coca-Cola Rollercoaster and Clydesdale Bank tower. Imagine having the drama of these things in Glasgow now.
“We wanted to capture some of that. We’ve created nine worlds within the site and the first people will see is a mini recreation of the Glasgow Garden Festival with the floating tap and the brightly coloured tenement sculptures. We’ve even recreated a smaller version of the Clydesdale Bank tower.
“The world is quite a dark place at the moment. I think our generation and younger generations sometimes wish we didn’t have smartphones.
“So we’re taking people back to a simpler, more thoughtful time.”
The night-time nostalgia trip is the eighth Glasglow sound and light festival held in the Botanics.
Between April and September of 1988, 4.3million visitors visited the festival between Tradeston and Govan built on in-filled docks, enjoying a maze of fountains and waterways, trips on miniature steam trains and riverside rides on vintage trams.
RBS Children of Glasgow Fountain at the rear of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.
The then Prince Charles and Princess Diana opened the event, which lives on in the memories of millions who rode the Coca-Cola Roller, strode across Bell’s Bridge, soared 250ft skywards in the rotating Clydesdale Bank tower and wandered among miles of landscaped gardens, taking rides on mini-steam trains and vintage trams.
Glasglow’s homage is the latest of several contemporary events acknowledging its significance.
Archaeologists from Glasgow University have staged two digs on the area in recent years, finding old items and rediscovering overgrown structures including a waterfall.
Graphic designer Shona Maciver’s floral bouquet logo has been revived to advertise the city council’s Glasgow 850 celebrations.
Earlier this year, an interactive walking tour was launched, giving fans of the festival the chance to walk down memory lane.
Lex Lamb devised the route around some of the festival’s so-called ghost sites – which still sit in the original location despite major changes including the opening of the city’s media quarter, home to BBC Scotland and STV.
Lex Lamb is an expert on the historic festival(Image: Reach plc)
Lex devised the downloadable tour as part of After The Garden Festival, which has seen him locate the whereabouts of many of the festival’s items.
The 153-day festival also included 270 artworks and sculptures from renowned artists like George Wyllie and Stan Bonnar – father of Guilt star Mark – many of which were feared lost with no records kept.
Hundreds of items are now logged on the After The Garden Festival website, and the project has installed information boards in the only remaining green space from the event.
Investigations led to the discovery of the festival’s steam train at a resort in Japan, the Clydesdale Bank tower used as a beacon on the waterfront at Rhyl, Wales, and the Coca-Cola Roller now called Wipeout at Pleasurewood Hills in Suffolk. Loose Women’s Kaye Adams has a statue of a doon-thewatter holidaymaker in her family living room.
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But not all the pieces have been looked after. Earlier this year, the Children of Glasgow fountain, once installed at a prestigious site at Kelvingrove Museum, was discovered under tons of rubble in a council yard.
Lex said: “In terms of how the city reinvented itself and how it wanted to be seen in the world, the festival was a pivotal part in the cultural reinvention of Glasgow.
“We’re trying to preserve its memory. It changed how people see Glasgow, and how Glasgow sees itself.”
Oli hopes his two-week night-time event can help reignite civic pride in a city blighted in recent years by fires, the failed overhaul of George Square’s Met Tower and post-pandemic closure of shops such as Marks & Spencer on Sauchiehall Street.
He said: “Glasgow has felt like a city in decline over the last few years whereas before it felt like a city in ascendancy. The festival helped the city become the big event city it is now. I think Glasgow might be gradually starting to find its mojo again.”
Glasglow’s Miles Better is in the Botanic Gardens from October 24 to November 9. To download After The Garden Festival’s walking tour, go to glasgowgardenfestival.org
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