Welcome to our monthly update. We cannot believe we’re already in November. Standing among 8,000 people at the festival in June feels like a lifetime ago, as our focus has been on ensuring we get everything ready for you for #HF26.

Ticketing & Artists

It’s incredible how we are still 237 days away, and we have sold half of our allocation of tickets for the weekend. What’s even more amazing is that over 1,400 tickets had been sold for the Friday Night before we had even announced the headliner. This goes to show that blind faith is strong among our followers, and so is our support lineup, featuring Cammy Barnes, Billy Reekie and Katie Nicoll.

October was a very quiet month for artist announcements, as our full weekend lineup was finalised at the end of September, with Peat & Diesel and Skipinnish crowning off what appears to be a popular lineup.

We have appreciated your patience throughout October in finding out who is headlining on Friday night, and we have received an amazing response to date for the Marti Pellow announcement.

We knew we had to pull out all the stops for the Friday night to complement our weekend lineup. If you haven’t got your tickets to see Marti Pellow, we suggest securing them whilst they are still available.

We’ve had Marti Pellow confirmed for several weeks, but, for contractual reasons, have been unable to announce him before November 1^st. Good things come to those who wait, as the saying goes.

Ticket Reselling

We have now launched our ticket reselling partner, Tixel. We recognise the importance of partnering with a reputable company to assist those who are looking to buy and sell tickets in a safe and secure environment. Unfortunately, ticketing scams are still on the rise in the UK, and we wanted to ensure we were doing our bit to prevent this from happening as much as possible.

Park ‘N’ Ride

We’ve had a few questions coming in about the parking situation and the possibility of a nearby Park ‘n’ Ride. Unfortunately, there is nothing new to report at this time. It is proving problematic to get the logistics in place and to make a Park ‘n’ Ride commercially viable for 2026. The team has spent a considerable amount of time investigating this over the last two months, and we are not confident that we will be able to confirm this for 2026.

Car Parking

Currently, Tesco is making great progress on the development of the land adjacent to the festival site. This area has been used for car parking for the last two years, and we will have more information in the coming weeks/months about the suitability of the field, any allocation of spaces, and gaining access to the car parking area.

We are doing everything we can to make this a viable option for 2026. There are many things outside of our control that we are working with, and as soon as we know, you will know.

Discovery Stage

Marion McDonald, our artist liaison for the Discovery Stage, has had a hectic few month’s touring venues around Scotland, scouting potential artists to appear on our second stage. We have already secured over half of the artists for 2026, and we will begin announcing them in a few weeks. By the looks of things, it will be another very strong discovery stage.

Shuttle Buses

We’ve had a tremendous response since launching the shuttle bus service on 4^th October. This year, we have doubled the capacity of seats to accommodate people staying in the local campsites. Currently, we have sold just under half of the available seats and are confident that sales will continue to build as the festival approaches.

Facebook Update

We are getting closer now to the magical 10,000 followers mark, and while we know this is a milestone for any organisation, our reach extends a long way past this, as we are consistently reaching seven times this number each week. Thank you to everyone who engages with us in our posts. If you get a moment and fancy helping us a little more, please share our recent Friday night posts to your timeline to let as many people know about the Heartland Festival and who is playing.

Vendor Update for 2026

We thought we’d save this one for last. Not only have we extended our drinks selection for 2026, but we have also increased the number of food vendors for next year. We listened to all of the feedback we received in our 2025 Survey and have also prioritised the catering for those with food intolerances. We will have more news to share in the next few weeks.

So that is all from us.

One last thank you to everyone who has supported us to date. We are extremely excited to see you all in Pitlochry next June.

Graham, Marina & Simon
The Heartland Team