Schoolchildren are putting the final touches to their animal costumes ready for Banbury's fourth Hobby Horse festival.
The three-day event starts on July 4, with music, dance and theatre in the streets until July 6.
Festivities begin at 11.30am, when children from more than 10 schools will converge on the bandstand in High Street to introduce their animals to the crowds.
Organiser Verna Wass and her team have been helping primary schools create not only horses, but also a dragon and a camel.
Rosemarie Higham, Banbury's mayor, aims to enter into the carnival spirit.
She will be joined by civic dignitaries, Morris dancers, children in fancy dress and hobby horses for the town mayor's procession from the town hall at 12.30pm on July 6, before St Mary's Church hosts a civic service at 1pm.
Simon Pipe, who helps organise the festival, said: "We started the festival to spread the fame of Banbury and its cock horse nursery rhyme. It looks like it's starting to work."
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