Fringe Sunday

Edinburgh's festivals are not universally welcomed by every resident. There's a good proportion of people who feel frustrated by the noise, bustle and disruption that hundreds of thousands of tourists cause each August. There is, after all, only so much mime one city can take.

The extortionate rents the locals can get for letting out their flats while they escape for the month, they tend to complain less about.

But as a sop to those who must endure the chaos the festivals bring, the Fringe organises a free, day-long celebration of its programme, Fringe Sunday. And a proper mini-festival it is too, with a handful of music tents, a kids tent, comedy, cabaret, dance, circus, theatre and countless street entertainers. It is simply a brilliant event any city would be proud of.

The Meadows crowd

Organisers claim 210,000 people attended today, and it's a figure that's easy to believe, given how busy the Meadows were.

The comedy tent was the most popular, rammed to what would have been its doors, had there been any, with people packing in to see comics such as Adam Hills, Des Clarke, Jimeoin and Russell Howard who charge up to £15 to see their solo show.

Hoboken

They staged a mini-benefit for comic singer Jade The Folk Singer, who has been suffering a sore throat. Dubbed JadeAid, they hoped to raise enough to buy her some throat medicine.

Rob Deering said: "It's great to have such a captive audience on such a lovely day. It's the best gig I've done this century!"

And Hills told the crowd: "Everyone knows this is the best gig on the Fringe to do."

Chained street performer	Comedy Tent lineup
Acrobat in a tree	Melvin Brown