THOUSANDS of festival-goers and tourists have generated more than £840,000 for a North-East town’s economy across a single two-day event.

More than 45,000 people visited the Festival of Thrift to celebrate sustainable living with a range of stalls, workshops and attractions on offer to encourage guests to sample a frugal way of life.

Last year’s event was hosted in the grounds of Kirkleatham Museum, near Redcar, and welcomed more than 140 stallholders selling a variety of North-East produce.

Organisers of the award-winning festival have since commissioned an independent evaluation report to be produced investigating what impact the thrift spectacular had on the Tees Valley and it found each visitor spent an average of £27 per head.

Two-thirds of the stallholders trading across the weekend were from the North-East and 98 per cent of businesses stated they would return to the 2018 event planned for September 22 and 23.

Councillor Carl Quartermain, cabinet member for culture, tourism and communications at Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said: “The festival of thrift generated a net economic impact of more than £840,000 and has supported 14 full time equivalent jobs.

“There has been a clear impact in Redcar and Cleveland of increasing pride in place following the festival which has been a catalyst for change and increase activity.

“Half of our visitors said they spent several hours at the event, with nearly 30 per cent staying the full day and ten per cent for more than one day. This is an unusually high ‘dwell time’ for a festival and shows there is wide range of activities to keep families involved.”

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “It’s great to hear that this event, celebrating creative making with an important sustainability message, is growing in scale, attracting thousands of people to Tees Valley.

“The economic benefits of its success are already being felt by the small businesses involved and this result is proof of the dedication and hard work of the organisers.

“This good news has come just days after we launched the Enjoy Tees Valley tourism service. By collaborating with brilliant events such as this, the outlook of Tees Valley’s visitor economy is bright.”