A crowd of 12,000 people gathered at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness to bring in the New Year.
The Red Hot Highland Fling delighted families, friends and visitors from as far away as Norway and the USA with four hours of traditional music from Hò-rò, Skippinish and Skerryvore, and a dazzling fireworks display on the stroke of midnight.
Inverness Events manager Gerry Reynolds, lead organiser, said: “We are all delighted with the turnout and it was a pleasure to work there. That’s what we expect because Inverness does it better than anyone else.”
Mr Reynolds added that there were zero reports of any incidents or injuries, to the delight of police, paramedics and the British Red Cross.
Inverness South councillor Duncan Macpherson was among the thousands in attendance at the free event, hosted by Scottish comedian Craig Hill.
Mr Macpherson described the atmosphere as “fantastic” and said all of the restaurants and pubs in the city centre were packed with people just before the party kicked off shortly after 8pm, creating a “great festival atmosphere.”
He added: “The great thing with the Inverness event is that you are getting a fantastic Scottish New Year atmosphere and it’s free. It had been raining but by 10pm it was dry and the event was well marshalled and there was a mix of families and friends and tourists. This was one of the best Hogmanay events I’ve been to in Inverness. You felt like you were in a great, safe place.”
At one point during the night, Mr Hill asked the crowd who had travelled furthest to be at the event and subsequently brought an American family of three up onto the stage to dance along with the music.
Inverness Provost Helen Carmichael also said that it was a great honour for her to be part of the celebrations, and presented a special bottle of Town House whisky Mr Hill during the show.
As the bells struck midnight, several fireworks displays simultaneously lit up the skies across the Highland capital.
And as the smoke cleared, the music of Auld Lang Syne could be heard across the city as the main show at the meeting park drew to a close.
Skerryvore and Skippinish joined together for the final songs before the event ended at about 12.20am.
Yesterday, social media filled up with positive feedback to the event and an array of colourful pictures of the fireworks.
