ONE of the biggest events in Yorkshire's folk calendar has returned to Otley this weekend.

Singers, bands and Morris dancers have taken over the town for the 26th annual Otley Folk Festival.

Concerts are being staged in a host of venues, including the Courthouse, Korks Wine Bar, the Methodist Hall, the Labour Club and the Black Horse Hotel, while a variety of street performers have been entertaining the crowds outside.

Organiser Steve Fairholme said attendance at this year’s festival had been up on previous years.

He said: “I would say we have had more people in concerts than we have had in the last two or three years. It’s bucked the trend a little bit.

“There has been a little bit of a trend, generally, for some smaller festivals to not do so well, but we seem to be ahead of that.”

Mr Fairholme said the line-up seemed to have the right “chemistry” and mixture of bands to draw people in.

He added: “It’s nice to see so many happy, smiling faces.”