A CARNIVAL-style food festival is being planned for a West Dorset community.

It’s being planned for West Bay by café owner Steve Attrill and daughter Emily as a way of saying thank you to Dorset lifesavers.

Harbour Bites will be held on the weekend of July 18 to 19 to support Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.

Organisers promise it won’t be just another food festival but resemble a carnival-style extravaganza, with the emphasis on street food and entertainment.

They want a wide variety of food producers from all over the south west mingling with top celebrity chefs and as many street entertainers and buskers as they can find to join in.

And if they can persuade Broadchurch writer Chris Chibnall on board there’ll be a ‘Prawn Church’ stall too.

The air ambulance charity was chosen as Steve’s friend Saj Vij from Burton Bradstock Cars suffered a stroke during a test drive. The seriousness of the incident meant that an air ambulance rescue wasnecessary.

Steve, who runs the Hive Beach and Watch House cafes, said: “It saved his life. To see him now you wouldn’t believe it. He is in the gym, he can walk without a stick and has all his faculties.

“That is why we are doing this. Hopefully with sponsors to help us all the money raised from traders’ stalls will go straight to the air ambulance.”

Emily added: “It is really exciting. We don’t want to be just another Dorset food festival so we are inviting traders from Bristol down to Land’s End so it is more of a south west thing.”

They are also hoping to get enough in sponsorship to get owners in the harbour to adorn their boat with lights.

Harbour Bites will be an all-weekend affair with the emphasis on the twilight hours between 4pm and 11pm.

There will be marquees on the green by the church and outside the Salt House, which will also be full of stalls as well as the harbour areas.

If anyone, from fire breathers, to web designers, musicians, jugglers, marshals, and traders, wants to get involved they should email harbourbitesfestival@gmail.com