Fusion of food and jazz festivals draws crowds to Darlington town centre

Darlington Jazz Festival and the award-winning Darlington Food and Drink Festival joined forces to ensure that the bank holiday weekend went ahead with a tasty line-up.

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Food connoisseurs were able to sample the wares of The Chilli Jam Man, The Frizzante Man, Spud Gun Loaded Fries, On The Goa, Haworth Gin Events, Little Red Pizza Shop, Le Mini Macaron, the The Scottish Bee Company and many more.

Food for Thought

While music from local bands, including The Northern Monkey Brass Band and Vocal Soul and Sound Waves Community Choir filled the town centre on Saturday afternoon.

The Darlington born-London based trumpeter and composer Matt Roberts kick started the jazz festival on Friday night when he led his very own sextet playing the music of Blue Mitchell.

Terry Henderson, who was in the town centre with his two young children, said: "It's really good to see so many people enjoying themselves and the kids are loving all of the food on offer."

Street entertainment

And Amy Thompson, of Darlington, added: "The music has been great, I'm not really a fan of jazz but it has been great fun today. We have all enjoyed the food as well, it is good to see so many people in the town centre."

Although the jazz festival draws to a close on Sunday, the food festival remains in town on Monday.

Sampling the food on offer

The market stalls will give people a chance to browse, sample and buy products as well as buying some delicious street food and drink.

There will also be leading chefs working in the demonstration marquee in the Market Place.