ABOUT 9,000 people are expected to descend on a West Oxfordshire riverbank for the county’s biggest free music festival this weekend.

The 19th Riverside Festival Charlbury will take place today and tomorrow at the Mill Field, off Dyers Hill, alongside the River Evenlode.

More than 40 local bands will perform across three stages, including headliners The Epstein, from Binsey and Witney-based The Standard.

There will also be a comedy stage, crafts tents, children’s entertainment and bars serving a specially-brewed Riverside Festival ale, produced by Witney’s Wychwood Brewery.

Organiser Andy Pickard said: “It’s a great community festival and a proper family affair with toddlers through to indie fans, grandpas and grannies coming along.”

Mr Pickard said that the festival’s roots began when a group of musicians started to gather in a Charlbury garden each year to perform an open air gig and have a picnic.

The event runs from noon to 10pm today and 11am to 8pm tomorrow.

 

 

 

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