A NEW food festival has announced in the region.

Saltburn will hold its first ever food festival in August following the success of the town’s farmers’ market which has almost trebled its number of visitors in two years.

The monthly market’s latest independent annual survey showed that 9,672 people visited on in October last year.

 

That represents a 112 per cent increase on the 4,566 visitors at its previous survey in May 2011, and a 174 per cent jump from 3,530 visitors in May 2010.

The good figures have persuaded the market organisers to hold a food festival in the summer.

 

Market organiser Lorna Jackson said: “We’re especially delighted to find that a huge 67 per cent of shoppers thought that a wide range of fresh local produce difficult to find elsewhere was the main attraction of the market. It’s a far cry from our first market in an Easter blizzard back in 2008.

“We’ve decided to hold a dedicated food festival in August this year, and we’re now in the very early stages of planning and talking with various people who may be involved. It’s another exciting first for us.”

The first Saltburn farmers’ market of the year returns on Saturday, March 9.