THIS year's Bromyard Scarecrow Festival has been hailed "the best yet" by one of the festival's organisers.

More than 1,000 people crowded in to the churchyard of St Peter's Church on Friday (June 6) to kick off the festival with a parade through the town.

More than 200 people took part in a competition to find all the scarecrows that had been hidden around the town, and food, stalls, music and other entertainment was on offer over the Saturday and Sunday.

Festival committee member, Mike Cresswell, said the event was "a great success".

"A lot of people still turned out for the festival despite the wet weather. It may be the best turn out we've ever had," he said.

"We thought it may be a flop due to the rain, and that people wouldn't come, but it was fantastic. We did have to postpone the duck race because the river was too high, but we will be rescheduling that."

Plans are already in motion for next year's festival, which will be in its ninth year.

"The theme of Any Tom, Dick or Harry has been chosen already - people can create scarecrows based around any of those names, such as Moby Dick. We've already had eight entries. It has been a very successful event so far and I'm sure next year will be the same," Mike added.