GlasGLOW 2025: itison founder Oli Norman on what to expect from Halloween event in Glasgow's West End

GlasgowWorld

The founder of GlasGLOW talks about this year's event and creating the light spectacle in Glasgow's Botanic Gardens for Halloween.

Transcript

00:00it's that time of year again glas glow is on its way i'm here with ollie norman who is the founder

00:08and the writer i suppose classical every year this event takes place at the botanic gardens

00:15in the west end and every year it has a particular theme this year i kind of get the sense that this

00:22one's captured a bit more attention and it's certainly making me smile and tell me a bit about

00:28the theme this year yeah so i write glasgow every year at the time of the glasgow taking place so

00:37i'm writing a year in advance and this year for last year when i was writing i think it's safe to

00:43say me alongside a whole bunch of glaswegians maybe feel a bit disappointed with the state of the city

00:50and i couldn't help but feel that i wanted to look back to go forwards so i was a kid of the 80s and

00:56i really remember that campaign resonating this notion of us as glaswegians being the hard men and

01:04women of europe and in order for us to counter that um reputation we went to mr happy it's mental when

01:13you think about it and i have got such a strong memory of being in the back of my mom and dad's

01:18car being in the city we'd gone to the odeon and renfield street watched a movie come out and i'd

01:25watched in the back of the cars we were leaving town grown men and women beating each other up in

01:30street corners and that was just before the time the campaign was launched and uh you know i just

01:36thought it's fused time to bring that campaign back more as a bit of a nostalgia piece and a little

01:44bit of a rallying cry of we've done it before let's do it again yeah i was walking down be cannon street

01:51at lunch time and i saw that the banners there are promoting glasglow yeah that had the um glasgow

01:58smiles better logo and it did provoke a bit of nostalgia do you think that um do you think that things like

02:07the garden festival and the um the year of culture and what that did to shift glasgow's perception of

02:14itself forward are still kind of resonant oh massively i think um bringing a version of the

02:21garden festival back at glasglow we've been blown away by the response to that and i think often when

02:28you look back you look back through rose-tented glasses and you go times were better then and there's

02:33a degree of truth in that and i think um what i'm hoping we achieve with glasgow this year is a

02:42always delivering the level of escapism and event that we want to deliver but be reminding people

02:49of what we have done on the journey that we've been on as a city because i think we are a turning

02:54point in the city right now i think we're actually great things are ahead we just have to be stick to

02:59our guns and get there and i think in a very very small way bringing back the glasgow's miles better

03:05campaign is reminding people of where we were and where we have come from so there'll be little visual

03:10cues around the the light display and the the theme yeah uh which will heart back to certain pointers

03:18from glasgow's past what what are you particularly looking forward to seeing in real life yeah yeah so of

03:25course um so i write out the show the theme and then i write out worlds and then what goes in each

03:31of these worlds this year we're calling it nine icons of glas glow and one of my favorites is i

03:37grew up alongside thousands of other school kids going to tam shepherd's in queen street yeah and i'd get

03:42my fake cigarettes and my fun snaps and you know i was heartbroken when the shop closed they're still

03:48open online and the brand is still alive and hopefully they'll come back at some point but we've reimagined

03:53tam as our vegas showman and we've gone big and hopefully we pay homage to him and there's another

04:00world which i love and it's based on a true story that a lot of people won't know about which is back

04:05in the 50s a rumor went around the gorbos that there was a seven foot tall vampire and and this is just

04:12amazing classical chat which is rather than get afraid and stay indoors the kids armed themselves to the

04:20teeth and they took to the streets and hunted for this fictional vampire so we're gonna make this

04:26fiction a reality at glasgow this year one of the things i like when i go around uh so you're going

04:34around different aspects and it is very immersive and you you see the lights you've got the the music but

04:39then you just see little snippets of glasgow in the background and like you know the lights kind of

04:44reflecting off of some of the the tenements yeah stuff like that or even running a corner and seeing

04:50familiar parts of the botanic gardens yeah but you know unrecognizable having that part of the city

04:58as a backdrop do you find that fun is that kind of a good way to do it well number one it's important

05:04to say that maybe not everyone likes us being there you know i i'm aware we cause a lot more people

05:09being in the area but yeah i think over the years people have questioned whether glasgow should be

05:14in the botanics for me it's that is it's home i think it's a really special part of the city it's

05:20a beautiful part of the city it's a real juncture of obviously literal juncture where people are and um

05:28none more so than during covid we spread literal light into the city yeah in a really beautiful way and

05:34hopefully not too intrusive because it goes off fairly in the evening so part of the joy is seeing

05:40those lights and the beams in the sky yeah um and every single year when we then you know finish the

05:46show i always get lots of locals saying to me oh it's so sad we don't you know because a lot of

05:51people enjoy the light show for free yeah which is part of the benefit and that's something that's

05:56part of what i love about it and as you said you know everyone is used to being in the botanics um during

06:03the day but the gardens physically closed the gate at night and that's what's so captivating for me

06:09about glasgow is you get to explore an area of the city you're never allowed in at night

06:14yeah and you see it in a whole different light let's talk marshmallows yeah and other foods yeah

06:20what is on the menu this year well every year we need to up the marshmallow game so i think it's a

06:27god-given right of every child and adult to toast a marshmallow every year so that's where marshmallow

06:32land came from so last year we introduced them we're upping the game again and it sounds small

06:37but it's a big deal is you can get a cup of hot delicious milk chocolate to dunk the marshmallows in

06:44and you know every year so last year we introduced this and loads of people like oh no no sounds just

06:50too sweet for me and then they get it and then before you know it they're literally drinking the

06:55chocolate it's mega we've got a couple of new vendors coming in to the street food area um uh

07:02so you know we've got the usual array of delicious churros from our pals at loop and scoop we've got

07:08amazing pizzas we've got the usual smattering of things you'd expect and a few new ones you've got

07:13a philly cheesesteak this year yes we do we do i mean yeah i'd go just for that it's part of the joy

07:21like i get you know put on a few pounds over glasgow because every night i go there and despite the

07:26fact you're maybe walking 20 000 steps you're having a philly i'm excited by that one yeah i think a

07:31philly's cheesesteak is long overdue i'll see see you for that and a hot chocolate yeah thank you very

07:36much you're very welcome good to see you

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