DROITWICH will be alive with colour and sound this weekend.

On Saturday a new arts and crafts fair comes to town at the same time as a hit music festival returns.

The fair takes place alongside the monthly farmers’ market in Victoria Square.

The new market is a collaboration between Wychavon District Council and Boffy Arts Markets, which already runs similar markets in towns and cities across the region.

Arts and crafts on offer will include ceramics, jewellery, paintings, sculpture, printmaking, textiles and photography.

Visitors to the markets, which run from 9am to 4pm, will also be entertained by performances from ‘Someone at the Door’ Samba Band.

Meanwhile Friar Street will burst into life and colour with this year’s Friar Fest starting on Saturday.

During the day visitors will be entertained by 13 acts on the main stage including top 20 iTunes singer/ songwriter Ben Stancombe and The Norbury Theatre Players as well as a Bavarian band, folk music, a ukulele group, blues funk rock, disco and acoustic music.

Dennis Seaton — one part of the reggae band Musical Youth which had a number one hit with Pass the Dutchie — will be appearing at The Old Cock Inn along with funk rock and blues band Hump De Bump and Capital to round off the event.

The event starts at 11am with a colourful Samba parade through the town and runs until 9pm outdoors before moving inside The Old Cock Inn.

There will also be tours of the Norbury Theatre, children’s entertainment in the ‘kid’s area’ and plenty of cultural street food to tempt the taste buds including a barbecue, wood fired pizza, Indian and Sri Lankan food and an outside bar.

Janet Yates, Droitwich Spa business partnerships manager, said: “It is great to see the first ever Boffy Arts Market take place in Droitwich Spa and hope it will be as successful as in other town centres.

“Friar Fest is a fantastic event with the eclectic mix of music and food on offer. The festival along with the markets offers plenty for residents and visitors to enjoy.”