MANY of the region's top street musicians and performers descended on North Yorkshire at the weekend.

The first Ripon Busking Festival brought a variety of entertainers to the city's market place on Saturday.

Crowds were enthralled by acts ranging from the Houdini-esque skills of the Great Escapo to morris dancers and trumpet trio The Three Amigos.

The event was the latest in a series to be put on by the Ripon City Partnership, a regeneration group that has invested millions of pounds in the area.

Assistant commercial manager Karen Cartman said: "The idea behind developing the new pedestrian area on the Market Square was to have somewhere where we could hold high-calibre events and start building up the tourism aspect of Ripon in a way that had not been possible before."