They were at the Standing Stones in Glen Innes shifting chairs and raising tents in readiness for the four day festival which starts on Thursday.

There are three marquees there, one each for bigger music events, smaller music events and for dance. Other events will happen throughout the town.

Lara Gresham who chairs the organising committee said all was going to plan. She was on site supervising everything from the installment of chairs in pavilions to the painting of white lines for stall-holders’ stalls.

This year the festival focuses on two Spanish and one French regions – Galicia and Asturias on the north coast of Spain and Britanny on the north-west tip of France.

But the most spectacular events may well be the massed arrival of pipe bands echoing those in Scotland and Ireland.

There are competitions for “Celtic cuisine” and also for fashion, featuring designs for robes themed “Tartan with Attitude”.

See also: Tickets on sale.

See also: Tartan with Attitude.