An evening of local music will help raise funds for a festival that has been running for more than 20 years.

The Wessex Folk Festival is taking place over Saturday, June 1 and Sunday, June 2 this year at Weymouth harbourside and Hope Square.

Organisers are lining up a selection of acts to play across two stages with one at Hope Square and another at the Harbourside stage.

There will also be Morris dancing throughout the weekend, workshops where you could learn music and a variety of trade stalls selling food, drink, clothes, gifts, jewellery, keepsakes. Local pubs are set to continue their music sessions in the evenings.

Acts for the festival will be announced soon, organisers confirmed.

They are holding a fundraising event called Local Heroes on Friday, April 12. The event will take place at Hope Church on Trinity Street in Weymouth.

Music at the event will feature local artists, Lynn and Kitty, Mike, Nigel and Lynton and more.

Guests are asked to bring their own refreshments. There will be a raffle at the fundraiser.

Doors open at 7.30pm for the event. Tickets in advance are £7.50 and on the door they are £10.

The organisers are also looking for children to get involved in the festival and name their mascot. Their mascot has been publicising the festival for many years and he needs a name.

According to the organisers, they think he’s a good singer and plays the guitar and he loves the festival. 

Children aged between six to 12 years old can fill out a form where a prize will be awarded for the best entry, which will be given out at the festival. The committee will judge the name they like the most and the reason for it and use it in future festivals and publicity. There can be multiple entries. 

Last year the harbour was a hive of summer activity as barbecues were fired up and ice cream was eagerly enjoyed in the heat at the popular festival. It was the first time since the Covid pandemic that the event took place across two days. 

Top of the bill on the main stage that Saturday was Merry Hell, the popular Lancashire-based eight-piece folk-rock band, who added Weymouth’s Simon Swarbrick to their line-up on violin.

Ticket Reservations for the fundraiser can be made from visiting the website www.wessexfolkfestival.com.

To enter the mascot naming competition, fill out a form online from the link: https://www.wessexfolkfestival.com/competition/ before Wednesday, May 1.