THEfifth annual Leopallooza Festival took place at the Wyldes, near Week St Mary on the weekend of Saturday, July 31 and Sunday, August 1.

People from all over the county and beyond flocked to the event that has established itself as one of North Cornwalls yearly highlights.

Set in beautiful countryside surroundings, show organisers welcomed a diverse range of musical acts and they didnt disappoint. Local bands joined more nationally established performers in entertaining a large crowd through some at times indifferent weather.

Chart popstress Eliza Doolittle was the act many people were looking forward to seeing, along with London Ska-Punk outfit, The King Blues. Both were deserving of their headline status with electric performances albeit in their own unique ways.

The weather was largely kind, and even the odd downpour did nothing to quell the spirit of the welly boot wearing crowds.

Local band, The Sum Of, were very popular with the predominantly North Cornish crowd, and North London trio, 'Man Like Me', bought their own distinct sound to the masses.

Boasting its own bar and eatery, festival-goers never went without refreshment and the centre piece an old car loaded with wood and set alight provided a truly fantastic night time spectacle.

There was also a trampoline, bouncy castle, surfboard buckaroo and more to entertain people.

Leopallooza spokes­person, Cai Waggett, said: This is the first time we've ever sold out in advance, and it took everyone (including ourselves) by surprise. But we knew we had a really strong line-up this year, including The King Blues and Eliza Doolittle who, handily, has been riding high in the UK charts, so we knew there was a strong possibility that it would.

The 2,000 available weekend tickets were sold out a week in advance of the festival, with another batch sold exclusively for Sundays entertainment.

Cai continued:Leopallooza started out as a small party in a field for a few hundred people, and it keeps growing every year. It's since taken on a bit of a life of its own and now we get emails throughout the year asking when tickets will be available or about who's playing (we start picking bands before Christmas). The site is built using reclaimed materials, and although it's not perfect, we do what we can currently afford to do to make it environmentally sound.

I think a lot of people still don't realise that everyone who works at putting this festival on does not make any money from it. In fact it's quite the opposite; organisers such as Lee Ellis (founder and owner), Sam Dunnett (festival manager) and Rich Mattin (site construction) take off a month from their jobs to work exclusively on preparing the site for the festival. Matt Daniel (festival promoter) worked regularly until 3 or 4am in the weeks prior to the event, sorting out the bands, running orders, guests lists etc. Eld Gill (site artist) worked through the days at the tattoo shop in Bude and then would spend his nights in his garage working on all the beautiful graphics that adorn the arena.

He added: A lot goes into the festival that no-one sees, and everyone who helps out, giving what time they can, does it purely for the love of putting the thing on and making people happy! What little money has been made in the past has been reinvested into the site itself.