The town centre came alive on Saturday with the first day of the Maidstone Arts Festival.

A number of live bands and entertainers took to the specially constructed Festival Folly Stage in front of the Town Hall, while Jubilee Square was “yarn-bombed” - decorated with colourful knitting tableaux, which had been created over the past four months by a team of 50 volunteer knitters.

Project manager Zoe Sparkle said: “As soon as the yarn-bombing started, people began flocking into the square to admire it, to touch it and even to hug it! I’ve never seen so many smiling faces in the town.”

The festival included performances from the Jazz Advocates, indie band Skies and Java Jam, and there was belly dancing from Anaconda dance troupe and an enthralling show by Dizzy Dare, who did wild things with balloons.

The second day of the festival will be on Saturday, July 11, also from noon till 5pm, when the line up will include Coco and the Butterfields, fresh from performing at Glastonbury.