A true taste of Germany will come to Kirkcaldy this summer, as plans for a major beer and music festival come together.
Scheduled to take place in August, the celebration of German culture has been organised to celebrate the town’s twinning links with the Bavarian community of Ingolstadt.
Councillors this week awarded more than £7,000 to assist with the staging of the event, which will be hosted in the town square.
Organisers expect the four-day festival to generate up to £700,000 for the local economy and bring around 8,000 visitors to the Lang Toun.
Keen to reassure residents that safety will be a priority, Robert Main, chairman of the organising Kirkcaldy Ingolstadt Association, said a similar occasion two years ago passed without incident.
“We engage with a local licensee who deals with all aspects of stewarding,” he said. “We had a debrief after the last event, which involved the police and Fife Council, and there were no negatives from the event.
“We undertook a survey in 2012 and all of the comments we got back were positive.
“The weather then was superb so hopefully it will be the same again.”
To provide an authentic Bavarian soundtrack to proceedings, a 28-member brass band will be visiting from Ingolstadt and will play in the main marquee.
German beer will also be imported to give the people of Fife a genuine taste of the country.
The funds granted by councillors have been awarded on the proviso that the rest of the festival’s £50,000 funding package comes together, with other local bodies such as BID group Kirkcaldy 4 All and Kirkcaldy YMCA also contributing.
Running from Thursday August 21 to Sunday August 24, the beer and music festival will form part of the Festival of Friendship, which aims to celebrate the links between Ingolstadt and Kirkcaldy, a relationship that dates back 52 years.
“We want to host this festival biannually,” Mr Main added.