HUNDREDS of residents joined in a free festival in Selby, with live music and performances taking place at unusual venues around the town.

The “Littlefest” is part of On Our Turf, a two-year long project led by York Theatre Royal to develop and strengthen links between art and communities in four towns around Yorkshire, and the Selby event was organised by a team of just five volunteers.

A total of 19 venues played host to the festival over the weekend, including Wetherells, Selby Abbey, The Londesborough, Mollie Sharp’s Cheese Shop, and Gotch’s, with more than 50 local and regional artists visiting the town to provide more than 70 hours of performances over the weekend.

Chris Jones, one of the volunteers who helped organise the arts festival, said: “It’s gone really well, the response to it has been absolutely fabulous. I don’t think Selby has ever seen anything like it.

“I think one of the nicest things I’ve noticed is that people have been wandering around town with the prohramme looking at it and trying to find out where to go next and what they can see. I go to the Edinburgh Festival every year, and it had that feeling to it, which is exactly the kind of thing we were trying to create.”

The festival saw drummers in Selby Abbey, a harpist and theatrical productions around the town, and a double decker bus parked in the market place as a central point for the various events.

Mr Jones said: “People have been telling me all about their plans for the day, so it’s worked fantastically well. Nineteen venues have been involved, so it helps the cafes, shops, working men’s club and pubs as well. People say nothing happens in Selby, and we’ve shown people it does, and there’s great stuff going on here and great independent businesses here for people to support.”