A FREE Food festival has been hailed a great success after attracting record crowds.

More than 7,500 people from the North-East and North Yorkshire attended Northallerton’s Homegrown Food Festival held on Sunday.

This year’s event featured a new line-up in the Food Theatre, two stages of live music showcasing local acts, the popular Tipple Tent serving locally-brewed beers, spirits and wines and more than 100 local producers selling theirs foods, drinks and crafts.

Popular chefs also made an appearance, including Simon Crannage from Swinton Park, Dave Russell from the Buck Inn at Maunby near Thirsk and Tristan Prudden from The Garden Rooms at Tennant’s in Leyburn.

One of the organisers, Sally Anderson, said: “We wanted to mark our fifth anniversary by offering even more and this was made possible thanks to our amazing team of volunteers.

“We returned bigger and better than ever and, as a result, attracted record visitors.

“What’s more, it is really putting Northallerton on the map as this year we not only had more visitors than ever but from a wider variety of areas.”

This year’s event was themed the ‘Year of the Bee’ and featured a range of activities for families.

Local artists Abundant Earth staged the activities in the eye-catching Totem Tipis, showing the importance of bee-friendly plants and how the insects benefit the environment.

Other popular attractions included the Kids Kitchen, the Grow Zone, where people could pick up information on growing their own food, and art displays produced by local schoolchildren.

The Homegrown Food Festival is organised by a small team of volunteers who have worked over the last five years to encourage the community to embrace locally-sourced food and drink and support small producers.

Nicky Smith, funding coordinator for the festival said: “This year was a truly wonderful event for families and even the weather was good. Children of all ages were in their element with the options of food and the interesting crafts they could take part in.

“Thanks to an Arts Council grant we were able to provide a wide range of fun and interactive art activities to celebrate our Year of the Bee and local community organisations.”

A Crowd Funding page has been set up to secure the future of the festival https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/homegrownfoodfest