The festival opens today (Friday) with a flag raising at Haugh Park at 6.30 p.m. and continues until October 26 with an array of art, music, theatre and workshop events for all ages.

Highlights of the first week include performances by blues musician Tam White, harpist Savourna Stevenson, children's theatre show Little Light and Clydebuilt Puppet Theatre's production of Red Riding Hood's Magic Purse, a classic story told with a difference.

'Up The Back Passage with Milton Balgoni' is an evening of performance poetry at The Sun Tavern, The Cross, on Monday October 13 with special guests Tim Turnbull, Robin Cairns, Jenny Lindsay and Rapunzel Wizard.

And the visual arts programme runs throughout the festival in a variety of locations, both indoors and outdoors, with site maps available from festival venues.

Festival organising group Cupar Arts and Heritage Project (CAHP), which formed in February, has worked hard trying to produce a diverse schedule with something to appeal to everyone.

Committee members met the Herald this week and expressed their excitement and enthusiasm as the festival began.

CAHP chair Margaret Robertson and vice-chair Joan Brown hoped local people would participate in and enjoy the event, which the group wanted to become a regular feature of life in Cupar.

"Cupar has a sizeable population and it is something we should be doing," said Joan.

CAHP was born out of a desire to increase opportunities for the arts in the Cupar region, with an arts centre remaining a potential long term goal.

The committee saw the festival as a way of working out what might suit Cupar best in terms of an arts space and also assessing what residents themselves wanted.

So with a full programme ahead over the next fortnight, it seems at this stage Cupar Arts Festival lacks just one thing - you.

Tickets for all events can be bought from the Ceramic Experience, 49 Bonnygate, Cupar, while more information is available at www.cupararts.org.uk.