In the main square in Glen Innes outside the Town Hall, Mayor Steve Toms welcomed visitors to an event which stages about seventy acts on the official venues plus countless others around the town.

It embraces music and dance with a Celtic theme but also fashion and cuisine. The theme of this year’s fashion design competition is “Tartan with Attitude”.

Each year, the festival focuses on a particular Celtic group and this year it is Asturias and Galicia in northern Spain and Brittany in north-western France.