Final preparations under way for this weekend's Shrewsbury Folk Festival
Organisers of a Shropshire music festival are expecting 7,000 visitors a day - with many of them camping overnight from Thursday.
Among the top artists expected are superstar Kate Rusby, who is looking forward to seeing everyone's smiles after last year's jamboree was called off.
Shrewsbury Folk Festival has been a fixture at Shrewsbury's West Midlands Showground since 2007, with plans in place to deal with traffic heading its way onto Berwick Road and Gravel Hill Lane, in Coton Hill.
"We will be directing people off the road and into a holding field," said festival spokesperson Jo Cunningham. "It's a bit like being in an aircraft holding stack so we don't have traffic on the road.
"We expect many people will be parking up at the site and staying for the whole four days."
Campers will be able to access the site from Thursday, and gates will open on Friday to ease traffic pressures.
The four day festival could boost Shrewsbury's economy by a cool £1 million, despite the much earlier cancellation of pre-launch events in the town centre.
Final preparations are underway building the two main outdoor stages and another one at the open air village, and even the weather forecast seems set fair for the Bank Holiday.
They even have back up plans to deal with last minute cancellations in case artists or stallholders have to pull out because of Covid.
They've already had to replace a children's circus, and Pomona Grocery's place has been filled by The Allotment from Longden Coleham.
Festival-goers have also been advised to take Covid lateral flow tests every three days, and not to come if they test positive.
"We won't be asking for evidence of this," said Jo. "We trust that our visitors will take up the precaution to ensure everyone's safety."
She added that tickets do remain on sale on the website shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk.
