ORGANISERS of a regional folk festival have hailed this year's event as the best.

Thousands of people from all over the country flocked to Darlington last weekend for the 16th Spring Thing festival.

The four-day event started last Thursday, with a concert by local singers and musicians.

Organiser Tom Hughes said: "This was a new part of the festival and was aimed at encouraging more young people to become involved in folk music.

"It was a real success and we actually had to turn people wanting to watch the concert away."

The traditional parade by dancers through Darlington town centre took place on Saturday, with a further concert and workshops.

The last day of the festival saw a performance by Salsa Celtica, who combine Celtic music with Latin American salsa.

Running alongside Spring Thing was a beer festival, hosted by the Darlington branch of the Campaign for Real Ale.

About 45 British and Irish real ales, bottled beers from Europe and gallons of cider and perry were served up, and, by the end of the weekend, it had all been drunk.

Mr Hughes said: "It was a really good week and I would say this year's Spring Thing was the best ever.