Although only in its second year, the event at Dores has already gained a national reputation and hopefully its expansion, both in terms of length and musical content, should guarantee its place on the festival calendar for many years to come.

Despite initial misgivings, most local villagers are reconciled to the idea of having 35,000 people on their doorstep for a weekend, aided no doubt by the £1 the community receives for each ticket sold and the offer of free entry and VIP treatment if they decide that if you cannot beat them, join them.

Importantly, lessons have been learnt this year by both the organisers and police in terms of safety and transport arrangements. There are more shuttle buses and traffic management has been refined to minimise the congestion which is inevitable at such a rural location. Even the weather forecast is promising.

It is only a pity that something equally ambitious and of comparable national appeal could not have been staged as a centrepiece of Highland 2007. Yes, Elton John's concert at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium next month is being used to launch the InverFest, but it is not strictly a Highland 2007 event and is not branded as such.

Most people attending the gig will go away unaware they were in a city and a region supposedly in the midst of the largest cultural celebration in its history.

The problem is that despite all the hype about millions of pounds being spent on the Year of Highland Culture, there was always an element of smoke and mirrors attached to the Scottish Executive's promises of funding, with a large chunk of the backing being delivered in kind rather than hard cash.

That has been exacerbated by the decision to allocate most of what money is available in tranches of £25,000 or less. While this has led to a succession of small local events — some good, some indifferent — there has been no wow factor to follow up the fantastic (and expensive) launch event staged in Inverness in January. The result? Highland 2007 has a low profile locally, a mere whisper nationally and no awareness at all when viewed on a UK-wide scale. It is not acting as a significant boost to tourism or developing the region's image as a vibrant, innovative place to be — two of the goals when the event was originally conceived as a consolation prize for the region's failure to secure the prize of European City of Culture 2008.

Far better would have been three or four nationally important, headline events to implant Highland 2007 in the consciousness of everyone from Balloch to Bognor Regis. That would have raised self confidence locally and many smaller initiatives would have happened of their own accord.

An opportunity missed, certainly. But all the more reason to embrace and support privately run events such as RockNess this weekend and the Tartan Heart Festival at Belladrum later in the summer which do attract visitors from across Britain, assist the local economy and put Inverness on the map.

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