Thousands to flock to Ayr for Ewan McVicar homecoming and STREETrave
Thousands flock to Ayr for dance music as ScotRail issue warning over increase in customers
Last updated 28th Apr 2023
It’s a triumphant return to Ayr this weekend for local lad Ewan McVicar as thousands flock to Low Green for his dream show.
Around 7,000 people are expected to pack out the festival ground on Saturday located right next to the seaside esplanade at the old pavilion.
It’s made up of two events with Ewan headlining Pavilion Festival on Saturday and veteran dance event organisers STREETrave taking over on Sunday with an day targeted at ‘having something for everyone’ says founder Ricky Magowan.
Household dance artists and producers are all set to play and it’s been a gig 10 years in the making according to Ewan who has dreamt of it since he was a teenager.
Greatest Hits Radio took a look around the ground during construction this week and caught up with both Ewan and Ricky.
"It's the best feeling in the world"
Ewan said: “The first time I had this idea was when I was 17 or 18 walking down here and always thinking this would be an great place for the festival.
But you don’t think that things like that will come to fruition and now I’m here seeing the stage going and thinking about what we’re about to do on Saturday.. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s the best feeling in the world.
“It’s great for local business in the area as well, and I was in a shop buying juice the other day and could hear people talking about it that was amazing.
“Nothing like this ever happens in Ayr to this scale with worldwide artists coming down to the area in one place at one time just for the people here.
“It means the world to me and we have 7000 folk coming down to Ayr on Saturday and to me that is insane.”
On Sunday STREETrave festival takes place in collaboration with Ewan’s Pavilion Festival. The Ayrshire DJ can then look forward to letting his hair down after playing the packed out ground the night before.
STREETrave used to host events all across Ayrshire in the 90’s and it’s something founder Ricky Magowan remembers fondly.
Ricky told Greatest Hits Radio that the Sunday is for people of all ages to come and enjoy, whether they’ve just gotten into the dance scene or were involved when they first kicked off.
He said: “Having it on the beachfront and having Ayr Pavilion as the backdrop is just great. So many great memories, we started in the late 80’s and did a total of 54 parties over a number of years. Great memories and great times.
“We’re having two events this weekend. Ewan’s night on Saturday which is targeted at the 18-30 age range, and then on Sunday we’ll have STREETrave coming in for the 30-65 year olds so that really just gives something for everyone.”
ScotRail issue warning
However, it will be a busy weekend on Scotland’s rail services with the festival, both Scottish Cup Semi-finals taking place at Hampden, and Sterofunk in Chatelherault.
Phil Campbell, ScotRail Head of Customer Operations, said: “To help the events run smoothly, we’ll be running as many trains as possible over the weekend, however, trains will be much busier than normal, so our advice to customers is to plan ahead.
“I encourage anyone travelling this weekend to allow extra time for travel, and to minimise your need to queue, buy your return tickets in advance on the ScotRail app or website.”