As folk festival fever gripped Scotland in 1992, the idea of a Mull of Kintyre Music Festival started gaining traction in local music enthusiasts’ thoughts.
An inaugural meeting was held in the Argyll Hotel in late 1992. It was packed with publicans, hoteliers, musicians, bands and interested members of the public.
A festival committee was then formed, and a decision was reached to run the event at the shoulder end of the season to ensure there would be no clash with events such as the Cowal Games; at the time, the second last weekend in August was at the end of the holiday season and Campbeltown, was usually quiet.
So was born the Mull of Kintyre Music Festival, or MOKFEST for short, an event encompassing all music genres.
The Festival was held in and around the town centre. It was fortunate to gain the assistance of Tennant Caledonian as the primary sponsor.
Traditional supergroup ‘Capercaille’ helped the event become established.
The Saturday Concert was priced at £10. Sunday evening saw ‘The Wee Toon Tellers’ play the first-ever Survivors Night in Dillon’s Bar, an event that has now attained legendary status as the final fling of a wonderful weekend of music.
