Thousands of people are expected to descend on the banks of the River Avon this summer for the first Chippenham River Festival.

The free event, which is set to go ahead over the August bank holiday weekend, is being hailed by its organisers as the biggest family fun day to hit the town in decades.

Organised by the New ChAPTER, a branch of the Chippenham and Villages Area Partnership (ChAP), the festival will host dragon boat racing, raft building and races, swimming, canoes, a duck race and a fancy dress boat parade.

There will also be a number of events off the water including live music, sailing dinghy park, guided walks along the river, cycle hire, craft stalls, street artists, and a mobile skate park.

Organiser of the event John Clark said: “We need to make the most of Chippenham, and it’s got a great river, but nobody seems to know it’s there.

“Most of the shops and houses in the town back onto it, so it’s just getting ignored.

“I think it’s been allowed to deteriorate and people have become unaware of it and what you can do with it.

“The river festival is about fun and community, but part of it is to remind the town about the river and the many things to do and see on it. After all, it’s the reason Chippenham settled here thousands of years ago.”

The group decided to organise the event after several surveys of townspeople outlined that the river was Chippenham’s most under-valued asset.

With this in mind, New ChAPTER set up a special team to raise awareness of the river and in just six months they have made a vast improvement with a debris clearance project below the weir. To become involved email info@chap-partnership.co.uk or go to www.chippenhamriverfestival.co.uk.