The Salty Coo
The Progress of the Salty Coo procession will leave the Town Centre (Planestanes) around 11am and process through Dumfries and over the bridge to Mill Green.
The Progress of the Salty Coo will arrive at Mill Green at 12noon (approx)
With music, costume and choreography, by Oceanallover this is something not to be missed.

WhiteMill
An amazing wind-powered water filtering system by artist Mark Zygadlo. Visitors will be able to drink water from the Nith and make a toast to the river. Take part in ‘Clarifying the Nith’, an open discussion exploring the idea of a Charter of Rights for the River Nith.

Flag Design
Drop in. Open to all ages.
The popular environmental flag design workshop run by EcoArt returns.

Stop Motion Animation Workshop
Drop in. Open to all ages.
Have a go at creating your own 2D paper-cut animations. Add your drawings or cut-out designs to our River Nith animation or create your own story!

Eco Printed Banners
Drop in. Age 5+ with an adult. Come “hammer” plants to capture their colour and shape onto fabric and then turn your unique print into an eco banner. Using the Japanese craft of tatakizome or “hammer dyeing”, you’ll learn how to capture the colours and shapes of flowers and leaves onto fabric, creating unique botanical prints.
You’re welcome to bring leaves and flowers from your garden, old bouquets and responsibly foraged plants to use and share. Maple, fern, sage and oak, marigold, geranium, pansies, poppies and nasturtiums are wonderful plants to use.

The Tidal Choir: 12.30pm
As the tide journeys upriver and the ocean comes to Dumfries, lend your voice to a unique one-day choir welcoming the water home. Led by choir leader Kate Howard, the Tidal Choir gathers at Nithraid celebrating the meeting of river, sea and community through song. This is an opportunity to sing outdoors in harmony with the rhythm of the tide. Whether you’re an experienced singer or have never sung in a choir before, everyone is welcome. You can learn the song parts in advance using the recordings HERE or simply come along and join in on the day. Theres a rehearsal at 11am in the Nithraid Tent. Come and be part of a fleeting chorus, created for a single tide, a single day, and a shared moment of music. Learn the songs beforehand HERE

SQQUAAARK: 2 – 4pm
Nith Gulls! Dumfries’s 1^st gull calling competition! 

As part of this years @ Nithraid, we will be hosting Nith Gulls! Prizes for the best gull calling impression, extra points for gull disguises (costumes)!

Practise your Nith Gull calls. Post a story of your gull calls or actual gull noises. Tag @Nithraid + we’ll poll your gull calls. See how convincing you are! 

Magical Moths!
The folk at South West Scotland Environmental Information Centre will open their moth trap at 11.30am and the moths will be on display throughout the day.

The Loose Goose
This year…one goose seems to have arrived early to the region and she’s on the rampage, Loosey Goosey!
Geese don’t believe in borders. They don’t believe in putting people (or birds!) in boxes. Instead they want you to shout about & feel proud of where you’re from. They want you to be an artist. Now, she’s set her wings & her wheels in the direction of Nithriad.
Inspired by the wild geese who make their home here every year, The Loose Goose celebrates a radical sense of home, freedom of imagination & the brilliant mix of cultures, voices and possibilities that shape place. Brought to Nithraid by The Stove

Making Contact:
Emma Gillespie is a singer-songwriter and artist from Dumfries & Galloway. After years of performing her own songs as a solo artist, a commission from EcoArt enabled her to undertake a week-long residency aboard the tall ship Lady of Avenel, opening up new questions around listening, belonging and the subtle shift from performing to sharing. Making Contact is an intimate and informal gathering of songs, stories, field recordings and objects collected during the voyage. Woven together with reflection and conversation, it explores what happens when we slow down enough to truly listen. It is an invitation to consider how genuine contact can reshape our sense of place, community and ourselves.
Book your place here

A River is Not a Line on a Map: 4.30pm in The Nithraid Tent
Why are rivers on maps coloured blue, with their boundaries marked in neat black lines? The River Nith is not blue. It’s murky brown, steely grey, and foaming white. While it has been managed and altered for human purposes, it’s not a tidy, contained body of water. It oozes and seeps, floods, and changes course. Its water holds particles of peat, silt, and other organic matter. The Nith feeds from dozens of other rivers, burns, cleuchs, and gutters. It’s part of a watery network which, on maps, looks like the veins and arteries of a living being.
Artists Nick Millar and Minty Donald will be making a lively map of the River Nith and its catchment area. The map celebrates the river as a volatile mix of water and other stuff; part of a watery web burbling, torrenting, flowing and trickling across the southwest of Scotland. You are invited to take part in making this map. More information at www.donaldmillar.com

2pm Artist John Wallace and soil scientist Professor Pete Smith discuss their new collaboration, BURN, exploring streams, ditches and other wee watercourses as the capillaries of the landscape and the ecosystems they sustain.
4pm Judith Hewitt (Museums Curator East) will speak about the varied representations of the River Nith in Dumfries Museum’s art collection. From pictorial representations on maps to oil paintings and modern engravings, the talk will look at the beautiful river from the perspective of local artists including Chris J Fergusson and Anne McEntegart. You can expect images of the Caul, the bridges and the town, which has the river at its heart.
4.30pm Artists Minty Donald & Nick Millar talk about their work on an EcoArt residency at Cample Line where they explored alternative and unruly ways of mapping rivers. After the talk, you are invited to take part in making a lively map of the River Nith and its tributaries.

Exhibition:
‘The Rood Fair, Then Now Us’
Through photography and film, the project captures contemporary stories alongside the Rood Fair’s history, creating an archive that celebrates local culture, craftsmanship, and the connections between past and present.
Caitlin Wells is a photographer and filmmaker based in Dumfries and Galloway, creating story-led work that focuses on people, place, and process.

The Moving Images Caravan Cinema:
11.30am- 5pm
The cinema caravan will be screening a programme of fun, river-themed films and animations for children. Step inside, settle in and enjoy a magical cinematic adventure by the river!

The Robert Burns Centre

12 noon: PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie (U)
4pm: Spider-Man: Brand New Day (12A)

7pm: Expressing the Earth. Glenda Rome, UK, 2026, N/C 16+, 78m. A debut documentary screening by locally born filmmaker Glenda Rome. The film delves into geopoetics, a philosophy developed by Scottish poet and thinker Kenneth White, which emphasizes a deep connection between the mind, language, and the living world. Glenda’s cinematic work bridges art, environmental and human connection.