THE city’s quirkiest festival is set to mark its 20th anniversary next month.

And organisers promise this year’s Elder Stubbs Festival, held at the allotments in Rymers Lane, Cowley, will be the biggest and best ever.

The festival, from noon to 5pm on Saturday, August 20, is the biggest fundraising event for mental health charity Restore, which runs an allotments project on the site.

Each year more than 3,000 people enjoy a variety of music and other performances among the vegetable plots, while learning about the charity at the same time.

Festival organiser Charlotte Ballard said: “It was very low key when the festival first started and we have been building on that every year.

“We are really focusing on getting more and more people from the local area in this year and hoping to get a record number of people attending.”

Part of the event’s appeal is its unique setting.

Miss Ballard added: “Everyone’s chilled out and happy. It does not feel like you're in Oxford because when you are in the allotments it's a massive, quiet site.

“It is like being in a piece of heaven in the middle of a very busy city.”

There will be two music stages, one electric and one acoustic, and a host of stalls and activities set up around the site.

Acts confirmed to perform so far include reggae band Makating, rockers The Mighty Redox, Witney alternative folk pop group Samuel Zasada and roots, dub and dancehall act Fuzzy Logic.

Fuzzy Logic guitarist Jack Hearne, from East Oxford, said: “We always get very excited about playing gigs in Oxford as it is a homecoming for me and a second home for the rest of the guys.

“It is a great cause to come out in support of, and we hope we can do the charity proud.”

Other planned attractions include a circus group performing juggling and acrobatics, a falconry display and pony rides for children.

The theme of the event will be ‘Let’s party like it’s 1991’ – the year the festival was first held – and people are invited to come in fancy dress on a wildlife theme.

Food representing the cultural diversity of the nearby Cowley Road will be on offer, along with stalls from local charities and good causes.

Organisers estimate it has raised between £70,000 and £100,000 over the last 20 years but the event also aims to raise awareness about mental health issues.

Miss Ballard said: “We want to make people see that it’s a normal thing.

“People suffer from mental health problems but it doesn’t make them different from you or me.”

Some ofé and information stalls.

Restore member Nick Gill will provide entertainment in the café playing the piano for people as they take refreshments.

Entry to the festival is £1.50 but children get in free.