Youth arts festival packs town (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Youth arts festival packs town

9:01pm Monday 9th July 2007

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THOUSANDS of young people brought the streets of Northallerton to a standstill.

Festival 07, the biggest youth arts festival in the county, took place at the weekend. It was launched with a carnival parade down the High Street on Saturday.

The procession included displays by dancers, samba drummers and a 45ft long lizard sculpture. Other attractions included giant helium balloons and stilt walkers.

The main event took place at Stone Cross Playing Fields, next to the town's leisure centre.

It featured dance, visual arts and theatre, skateboard exhibitions, a 30ft climbing wall, bungee, games and dozens of market stalls Music was provided by local bands including All Sexy But Ginger and national performers such as The Holloways, Lil' Chris, Radio Plastic and the Buddist Punkz.

The Holloways, a four-piece band from north London, whose current single, Generator, entered the charts at number 14, performed in front of about 4,000 people on the main stage on Saturday night.

The finals of local dance and music competitions were also held.

There was a chance for visitors to try their hand at dozens of workshops, including Asian dance, podcasting, DJ-ing and drumming.

Organisers say the annual festival aims to provide a creative platform for the county's young people, offering them the chance to explore the arts.

It was staged by North Yorkshire County Council's youth arm, Connecting Youth Culture.

The festival is in its sixth year and has grown from a one-day event with 15 workshops and two performance spaces, that attracted about 1,300 young people, to a three-day event with more than 25 arts workshops, six performance spaces and an audience of about 4,000 young people.

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