Birmingham proved itself a capital for culture when 270,000 people turned up to Britain’s biggest free arts festival.
ArtsFest, which began in 1998, attracted as many revellers as last year with more than 140,000 visiting hundreds of events across the city centre on Saturday alone.
Nearly 20,000 people turned out for the first ever Folk Dance Fest which saw many of them dancing in the rain.
Other highlights included the fireworks spectacle Classical Fantasia, which brought together the combined talents of the Birmingham Opera Company and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Another fireworks display commemorated the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain to the sounds of the Dam Busters March and an appropriately-shaped aircraft firework.
Culture boss Coun Martin Mullaney said: “The Classical Fantasia concert with the city’s great arts organisations demonstrates what ArtsFest is all about – bringing people together to enjoy and share a sample of Birmingham’s fantastic cultural offering.
‘‘Birmingham is truly home of big city culture.”
