STOCKTON’S 30th International Riverside Festival kept visitors to the town entertained at the weekend with street theatre, high wire acts and carnivals.

SIRF celebrated its 30th anniversary by opening with a daring aerial theatre show, Frameshift, a performance featuring harnessed dancers performing on high.

The festival hosted 30 shows a day between lunchtime and 8pm, and one of the highlights was a community carnival in the town centre on Saturday.

Its closing act last night was British showmakers Cirque Bijou, who brought a ground-breaking “fire wire” spectacle to Trinity Green on the edge of the town centre.

The procession on Saturday involved numerous groups from the local area, who paraded down Stockton High Street in colourful outfits while they were cheered on by onlookers.

Clowns and a brass band were on hand to entertain young and old, and live music and an after-show birthday party on Stockton’s Riverside followed the carnival.

Actors in colourful outfits also performed street theatre and encouraged the audience to get involved, with “Cake Ladies”, dishing out sweet treats to onlookers.

Other acts included a rapper on a three-wheeled trike.