ORGANISERS of a new Weymouth street festival are celebrating a successful first day after receiving praise from local residents and visitors.

The Fayre in the Square, which started on Sunday and continues today, has been put on for the first time by the Weymouth Rotary Club.

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The festival, based around Hope Square and the harbourside, was full of people on Sunday listening to live music, eating a variety of foods and buying arts and crafts from stalls.

Entertainment on offer included WOW, Julia Storey’s Lets Dance, Replay, and the Weymouth Ukuleleans.

Meanwhile, Jason Bird, senior sensei at the Tanren Dojo in Portland, gave a demonstration of traditional martial arts next to the harbour.

He said: “It’s good fun. It’s good for people to see.

“The traditional martial arts in the Portland, Weymouth and Dorset area don’t get a great deal of publicity, so it’s nice to do something a bit more traditional to show them.”

Alan Burt, Darron Garnett, and Guy Bridge were responsible for this year's festival entertainment.

Alan said it was ‘very much a team effort’ and that he was grateful for the help the Rotary Club had received, particularly from Matrix Scaffolding who put the stage up.

He said: “They put up that stage and haven’t charged us a penny.”

Organiser Dennis Corbett said he was ‘absolutely delighted’ with the weather and the ‘fabulous’ turnout.

He said: “We have been working on it for about six months and we really needed was some nice weather.”

In among the crowds were a large number of people working on behalf of the Rotary Club, distributing event guides and collecting donations.

Dennis said: “The objective is to raise as much money as we can for good causes.

“In addition to all the entertainers and all of the stalls, we have also run a couple of stalls where we are selling raffle draw tickets, the main beneficiary of those draws will be the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.”

There is a full list of events scheduled for tomorrow, running from 10am to 6pm, with more live performances from bands and dancers expected.

Whilst the Fayre in the Square has been operating on one side of the harbour, the Quayside Music Festival has also taken place.

A huge line-up of bands and solo musicians will continue to perform at the Quayside Music Festival tomorrow from midday to 10pm.

We visited the Fayre in the Square earlier today to ask people what they about about the event.

Graham Tyrrell, 55, from Weymouth, said: “The sun was out and we knew this was going on so we thought we would have a look around. It’s pretty good because there are a lot of people about. It’s nice to see people get out and about in Weymouth.”

Ben Pettit, 31, from Whitcombe, said: “It’s a good selection of stalls and foods and all sorts. The music’s pretty good from both sides. There seems to be a lot of people here. The weather’s been better than we thought it would be. It’s quite entertaining so far.”

Val Ramsay, from Weymouth, said: “I would like it every year. It’s wonderful. They have got live music down there. They have got all the stores up here. It’s just a nice event. It’s got a mix of things.”

Charlie Marks, 10, visiting on holiday from Birmingham, said: “I like all the singing and the live music. We might be going tomorrow to see if there’s anything different.”