Scotland's first Seaweed Festival

Scotland’s inaugural celebration of all things seaweed will take place from 6 – 12^th September 2021.

The week-long Isle Martin Seaweed Festival, located on and around the community-owned Isle Martin in the north-west Highlands, is supported by EventScotland as part of the Year of Coasts and Waters 20/21.  

Originally due to be a 3-day event in September 2020, but postponed due to the pandemic, the festival has been extended to 7 days and now also features a new online element.

Festival curator Julia Barton comments: “We are thrilled to be finally able to make this very special event happen. It’s certainly going to be a real joy to welcome visitors both near and far to celebrate and learn more about this extraordinary, yet often overlooked wonder of our marine environment”.   

The festival will feature a mix of in-person events on and off the island, plus the new online programme, which will allow enthusiasts and the curious from all over the world to take part.

Online visitors will be treated to live webinars linking to a selection of each day’s activities on the Saturday and Sunday. There will also be special links to other national seaweed initiatives such as the National History Museum & Marine Conservation Society’s Big Seaweed Search, a chance for citizen scientists to join in studying and helping protect the diversity of our seas.

The Seaweed Festival’s busy programme of events will have an ecological and art flavour, with the action kicking off with a series of seaweed identification walks, observation and creative activities on local nearby mainland beaches. There will also be an exhibition, The Art of Seaweed in the Gallery Windows of An Talla Solais, and a seaweed-themed film night at Ullapool’s Ferry Terminal.

The weekend of the festival sees the action move onto the Island itself with online and in person talks, presentations, workshops and tastings featuring local and international guests. These include the National History Museum’s Professor Juliet Brodie, Dutch artist and author of The Seaweed Collectors Handbook Miek Zwarnborn; New Zealander forager and chef Jayson Byles; historian and The Frayed Atlantic Edge author David Gange; and seaweed forager, free diver and farmer Kyle McPherson. There will also be writing and sound workshops with local experts Jon Miller, Lorraine Thompson and Lisa McDonald.

Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events at VisitScotland, said: “We are delighted to be supporting Isle Martin Seaweed Festival as part of Year of Coasts and Waters 20/21. Scotland provides the perfect stage to explore the special resources within our coasts and waters and this new festival gives audiences the opportunity to enjoy hands-on events and find out more about the importance of seaweed to Scotland’s natural, cultural and economic heritage.”

To book tickets and reserve ferry crossing seats, visit the Isle Martin Seaweed Festival website.