ORGANISERS of the Orange Darlington Festival say this year's event proved to be a big draw for families visiting the town for weekend breaks.

The event came to a close last night with a fireworks display, following performances by tribute acts to Westlife and Robbie Williams.

Darlington Borough Council, which co-ordinates the annual event, is already looking forward to a successful re-run next year.

By the start of last night's final session of entertainment, starring West-Lives and Paul Reason, it was estimated some 22,000 people had already visited Darlington Market Square for the festivities.

Thousands more crowded into the town last night.

Earlier in the day, an estimated 5,000 people enjoyed performances as a talent contest reached its climax with performances by three budding singing stars who had won talent competitions held over the weekend.

Last night, under-11s winner Brittany Knowles, 12 to 16 age group winner Sanaz Lavasani, who was this year's winner of the town's Young Soprano of the Year competition, and Tanya Nixon, who won the over-16s competition, took to the stage with last year's winner Matt Hilton.

Michelle Parkes, Darlington council's sponsorship manager, said: "Thousands of families have travelled from all over the region to the festival.

"The tourism people and accommodation operators have been booked up throughout the town, proving people have been coming here to make a weekend of it.

"We just hope that everyone's looking forward to next year's event."

Street entertainment including walk-about acts and Punch and Judy kept visitors happy throughout the afternoons of the three-day festival.

But the main crowd draws have been the musical entertainment in the evenings.

Saturday night saw the festival kick off with music from Madonna tribute act Vogue, as well as the music of U2 performed by ZU2.

Sunday evening saw performances by singer Scott Adams, returning to the festival after a successful debut last year, blues band the Goosehorns from York, and Newcastle's Pop Idol finalist Aaron Bayley.

The event was sponsored by Orange and supported by The Northern Echo and Century FM.