| Where: | Melrose, Borders - Rideout from Greenyards (good view from Market Place at 6.05 pm), Coronation at the Abbey |
| When: | 3rd Week in June - Rideout Monday, Coronation Thursday. |
| Time: | Rideout 6pm, Coronation 7pm |
The annual festival at Melrose combines all the typical elements of the traditional border summer celebrations with a Common Riding, Festival Queen, sports and fancy dress.Common Ridings are a boundary marking custom on horseback. They are mainly held at locations across the Scottish Borders, perhaps because this area suffered from centuries of raiding and reiving between local families and the English, and the locals needed to protect their lands from encroachment. Long after this was necessary, the Ridings survived to become major festivals and a great day out! The Rideout at Melrose is on the Monday, leaving Greenyards at 6pm and returning to town by around 9.30 while the Queen is crowned on Thursday at Melrose Abbey. There are several associated events including Fancy Dress and a Bicycle Ride as well as the Tour of Ceremonies which involves the main participants processing around the locality, followed by sports and dancing.
Helpful Hints.
In 2024 the dates were Sunday 16th to Saturday 22nd June with Rideout on Monday 17th and Crowning on Thursday 20th- 2025 dates are yet to be confirmed.
Check the Facebook page below for updates, or email festival@hotmail.co.uk for any further information.
If the Festival Programmes at the local shops sell out you can get an abbreviated timetable from the Tourist Information Centre with all the main fixtures listed.
Click here for the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Melrose-Festival-1413148842266539/
Hi do you know when the festival will be rescheduled for this year
No idea, sorry – the best place to check will be on the event Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Melrose-Festival-1413148842266539/
if it does get rescheduled, that’s probably where it will first be announced. All the common riding festivals so far are cancelled, so any later events will depend how the progress of the virus/vaccine etc goes and I’d guess it will be some time before anybody can plan ahead with any confidence. Even the Edinburgh Riding in September has been pulled, so I’d guess it would be after that – and if it gets too late they’ll probably wait til 2021. Sorry I can’t be more help!
Do all the horses ride down the main Street in Melrose past the Rugby club at 9.30pm tonight?
Sorry Dorothy, I can’t help- you’ll need to contact the organisers themselves for that level of detail and as the message has just come through now at 8.15 I haven’t got enough time to find out for you and report back. Hope you manage to discover in time,
Averil
Just to confirm, Melrose Festival Week is Sun 18th to Sat 24th June 2023. Contact festival@hotmail.co.uk for any further information. In addition the Melrose Festival FB page will be updated as time progresses, thank you: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077207727598
Many thanks for the information Douglas- it’s really helpful and I’ll get those dates up and check the Facebook link right away.
Best wishes,
Averil