With less than five months to go before the big day, the Maidstone River Festival held a launch party to attract new sponsors.

Committee chairman Dave Naghi declared: "Last year's festival was the best ever, but this year's is going to be even better."

The date set is the last Saturday in July, with events starting at noon and concluding with a firework display at 10pm.

The River Medway will be full of boats moored along the quayside, many dressed in colourful flags with their crews in fancy dress - this year's theme will be "culture."

There will be live music and dancing displays from a mobile stage, plus the now traditional raft race, where teams compete to be the first home on their hand-made rafts, while raising money through sponsorship for charity.

The day will also see either a farmers market or craft fair at Lockmeadow, and a children's funfair in the market car park.

The event will conclude with a colourful firework display above Fremlin Walk.

The launch party held at the Thai Orchid restaurant, appropriately next to the river, was an opportunity to present prizes to the various winners of competitions from last year's festival.

Nina Mwamdira, eight, a pupil at St Michael's Junior School in Maidstone, was first up - she won the prize for best T-shirt design and was awarded a box of Lego by the Mayor of Maidstone Derek Mortimer.

Julie and David Smith of DS Commercials won the prize for the raft entry that raised the most money in sponsorship.

Their team raised £705 for the Heart of Kent Hospice, and were thanked on the night by its chief executive Rachel Street.

Julie Smith said: "It was great fun. The team really enjoyed it and can't wait to do it again this year."

Peter Booker won the prize for best dressed craft and was presented with a framed photograph of his boat, while Terry Wong, a new arrival in Maidstone, won the prize for best photograph of the festival.

His reward, £100 cash, was sponsored by the law firm Gill Turner Tucker, who were represented at the launch by Michael Trigg and Robert Green.

The firm is also one of the sponsors of this year's event along with Clive Emson Auctioneers and major contributors Firmin Haulage.

Maidstone council has also chipped in with £2,000.

Mr Naghi said: "We need around £25,000 to stage the festival and we are still a little short of that, so there is plenty of opportunity for other firms to step up and be associated with what will be the best day out in Maidstone this year."

The river festival has been running since 1980, though there were a few years when it didn't happen.

Until 2017 it had been chiefly financed by Maidstone council, but that year the council cancelled its support, and the event was reduced to a simple boat-gathering rather than a festival, until in 2019, Mr Naghi was able to source some major commercial sponsorship to re-establish the event.

Anyone wishing to sponsor to the event or wanting to find out how to take part in the raft race can get further details from the festival website here.

Thanking his team of volunteers for their support, Mr Naghi said: "The river festival is very much a fun day for the entire family, and there is no better free day out in Maidstone."