A POP concert, dog show and a bigger parade than ever are just some of the treats in store for revellers at this year’s Old Town Festival.

Organisers of the annual event, which this year is from June 16-23, are looking for people to take on stalls and take part in the parade to help make this year’s festivities a success.

It costs about £18,000 to put on the celebrations and Old Town Festival committee chairwoman Carol Gibbon said they are hoping the whole town will get behind them.

“Funding gets worse every year so we are very lucky that we have got a fantastic team of volunteers so we can do things on quite a tight budget. We are trying to upgrade the parade this year to make it absolutely fantastic,” she said.

“We are looking for stall holders – they have been slow in coming forward so far. That is our market place. The council give us the premises free of charge but there are still a lot of things we need to buy.

“This sort of thing just covers our costs like the road closures and insurance. We need those bits of income to keep it going. We do it cheap, but we can’t do it for nothing.”

The festival will open in the Town Gardens on June 16 at 10.45am.

There will be stalls, a funfair, sideshows and activities as well as music and performing arts all day in the band stand and in The Bowl, with a 1970s pop concert in The Bowl in the evening.

The next day as well as continued festivities, there will be a classical prom concert in the evening.

Celebrations will continue during the week and the parade – which will include children’s fancy dress competitions, a Peppa Pig lookalike, Elvis and this year’s carnival queen – will take place on June 23.

The carnival parade leaves The Lawn at 11am.

A 1970s themed dinner and cabaret in the marquee will take place on June 22 and 23.

To take part in the festival or for a full schedule of events visit www.oldtownfestival.co.uk To book a stall, please contact Victor Chamberlain by phoning 01793 345200 or emailing victor.chamberlain@sjp.co.uk To take part in the parade, please call Danny Gibbon on 522955 or email danny.gibbon@sky.com.