Glasgow Mela
Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, Saturday and Sunday
Scotland's biggest multicultural festival is the first of two huge events in Glasgow's West End this weekend. A riot of music, dance, performance and family fun from cultures across the world, there's a huge amount to see and do. Attractions include a new Bollywood cinema marquee and family zone, and all of the usual stalls and authentic global cuisine. Musical entertainment includes The Red Hot Chili Pipers and Bhangra stars Sukshinder Shinda and Jaz Dhami. Running from noon until 8pm on both days, entry is free. www.glasgowmela.com
Taste of Grampian
Thainstone Centre, Inverurie, Saturday
This free annual celebration of food and drink from producers based in the north east of Scotland is now in its 15th year. Visitors can try and buy a mouth-watering range of produce including fresh meat, preserves, shortbread and whiskies from some of the region's many distilleries, while last year's new seafood pavilion returns enlarged and upgraded for 2014. Running from 9.30am to 4.30pm, the day also includes music, children's entertainment, a craft marquee and cookery demonstrations from the likes of Nick Nairn and Paul Rankin. www.tasteofgrampian.co.uk
Edinburgh Short Film Festival
Various venues in Edinburgh, from Friday
It's shaping up to be a memorable month in the capital for movie fans, with the launch of the 68th Edinburgh International Film Festival in a fortnight and the return of its much newer cinematic shorts equivalent tomorrow. Organisers are hailing this year's programme as the strongest yet, with six main nights of screenings and a handful of intriguing fringe events lined up over the next couple of weeks. Set to be among the highlights this weekend is Saturday's showcase of new work from Asia and the Middle East at Summerhall. www.edinburghshortfilmfestival.com
Potfest Scotland
Scone Palace, Perth, Friday to Sunday
Returning to Scotland for a 17th year, this internationally recognised ceramics festival brings together around 70 makers and suppliers of studio pottery, sculpture and hand-made table and cookware. As well as the chance to see and buy work from across the UK and further afield, there are also demonstrations and hands-on workshops granting visitors the chance to try making something themselves. The event's covered festival village is open each day from 10am to 5pm, with free parking and refreshments available onsite. Admission is £4.50-£5, with accompanied children free. www.potfest.co.uk
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup
Nevis Range Resort, Fort William, Saturday and Sunday
The only British leg of this high-profile international mountain bike tournament, featuring 300 of the best riders from across the globe. As many as 20,000 fans are expected, with two days of Downhill time trial and 4X racing action underway from Saturday morning. Away from the hillside, spectators can also mingle with riders and visit a host of trade stalls in an event village and expo area. Open from 8.30am both days, tickets are £15.50 for adults and £8.50 for children. www.fortwilliamworldcup.co.uk
Byres Road Street Parade
Glasgow West End, Sunday
The West End Festival's Mardi Gras-themed showpiece is unarguably one of the Glasgow's summer highlights, with up 80,000 expected to watch as hundreds of costumed participants and musicians march from the Botanics to Kelvingrove Museum. The parade itself starts at 3pm and lasts for about an hour and a half, but roads are closed to traffic all day so visitors and locals alike can soak up the carnival atmosphere and make the most of the shops, cafes, pubs and stalls lining Glasgow's most cosmopolitan thoroughfare. www.westendfestival.co.uk
The MoonWalk Scotland
Inverleith Park, Edinburgh, Saturday
Entry for this mass-participation midnight sponsored walk around Edinburgh in aid of breast cancer charities is now full up, but if you didn't make it and still want to be involved, you could always register as a volunteer and help out on the night. To do so, sign up online until 9am on Saturday, or turn up at the event's unmistakably enormous pink marquee in Inverleith Park. For those interested, there's also a volunteer briefing at the RSE Scotland Foundation in George Street at 6.30pm tonight. www.walkthewalk.org
Dundee WestFest
Dundee, From Friday
Dundee's volunteer-run community summer arts programme has been scaled back this year, but its customary Magdalen Green centrepiece Big Sunday has been beefed up to compensate, with live music from local bands, loads of stalls, and activities for children, plus a vintage fashion village and beer tent for grown ups. There are also a handful of WestFest concerts to catch over Friday and Saturday ranging from classical to cabaret, including tomorrow night's 20th anniversary celebration of Dundee Rep female singing troupe Loadsaweeminsingin at Bonar Hall. www.gomni1.webspace.virginmedia.com/westfest
Glasgow Science Festival
Various venues across Glasgow from today
Eleven days of science-themed events, talks, workshops, guided walks, exhibitions, entertaining experiments and interactive activities for all ages. New this year are a series of topical debates on the science of sport inspired by the Commonwealth Games, as well a Tasty Science strand exploring the chemistry of food, whisky, beer, cocktails and coffee. The programme also has a clutch of big open day events for families, including this weekend at Strathclyde University and Kelvingrove Museum, then next weekend at The Briggait and Glasgow University. www.glasgowsciencefestival.org.uk
Meadows Festival
The Meadows, Edinburgh, Saturday and Sunday
Grassroots-led community events have been a bit of a theme this week - this annual volunteer-run effort in the heart of Edinburgh has been going strong since the early seventies. Visitors can expect a dependable mix of food stands, community information stalls, and market traders selling everything from vintage clothes to vinyl records. There are also two music stages featuring local bands, a dog show, a children's area overseen by creative arts initiative Alchemy, and a bar and performance space curated by Forest Arts. www.meadowsfestival.org
Don't Miss
The Killearn Hoolie
Killearn, from Saturday
Biennial eight-day community festival in scenic Stirlingshire, starting on Saturday with a 10K race, a fun run, and a beer festival. On Sunday there's a Village Treasure Hunt and a family ceilidh, with a Gala Day, and a huge village dance to come next weekend. www.killearnhoolie.com
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article