Following the triumph of last year's 'prototype festival' organisers decided they had a recipe for success and have made it bigger, better and more exciting for 2008.

The town centre will be cordoned off to traffic on Sunday, July 6, leaving King Street and Strutt Street free for visitors to browse up to 40 exhibiton stalls which have signed up for the day.

Exhibitions from local traders and musicians have been organised to showcase the best of Derbyshire, including the Cupcake Emporium, Miss Piggy's home-made burgers, and chocolate makers Chocolate Confetti.
There will also be a beer tent on the Market Place.

Sam Jackson, of Fresh Basil, has organised the event with business partners from the Strutt Street delicatessen. He said he hopes to attract even more visitors than last year.

He said: "We managed to get 1,500 people out in the rain last year, which was encouraging and this year is 50 per cent larger. The underlying reason for doing it is to promote Belper to a wider region, and give something back to the town which has supported us.

"And when everybody's down because of negative press about the credit crunch it's a little bit of sunshine."

Sam said he and his colleagues set up the festival last year because the business had outgrown its premises and could not hold events there.

It started as a trial 'to see if it was what Belper was looking for'.

He said: "The festival promotes what is happeneing in the artisan food world. The small traders who work their fingers to the bone to do what they believe in. It's all about passion and bringing together a group of people who really believe in what they are doing and putting on a fantastic show."

The event begins at 10am.