THE first Selby Arts Festival, the brainchild of Hambleton arts promoter David Edmunds, will combine music, comedy, theatre, poetry and puppetry with skating and even a few surprises between July 22 to 30.

Opening the festival will be West Country folk singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Seth Lakeman and his band, playing an intimate gig at a sold-out Selby Abbey next Saturday at 7.30pm. “Seth did two shows at Exeter Cathedral before Christmas, and he played Salisbury Cathedral this spring, so we know that Seth and his band are adept at dealing with church acoustics,” says Edmunds.

“A good PA system, good lighting, will all be part of the experience. I don’t want anyone to say ‘It was OK for Selby’. I don’t want anyone to be apologetic. This is not a watered-down or cheap version of a big festival. This is a festival that wants to promote excellent shows and make excellence happen.”

Edmunds has acquired £100,000 funding, not least from the Arts Council, for his diverse festival, whose more unusual elements include the 154 Collective’s Town Centre Shop Takeover from July 24 to 29, when the shop will be open daily from 10am to 5pm, free for you to drop in anytime with no booking required.

The 154 Collective’s musicians, artists, painters and sculptors are taking over an empty shop to fill it with “exciting, fantastic and fun artworks”. “The door will be open every day and they want you to come in and tell them all about what a great place Selby is,” says Edmunds.

Leeds company Slung Low reprise their 2015 Rugby World Cup show, Rugby Songs, in a free performance at Selby RUFC on July 23, kick-off at 4pm.

Celebrating the national songs of the oval ball game, the show glories in some of the greatest moments in Rugby Union history, with the cast on the first team pitch and the audience on the perimeter white lines hearing every note through headphone technology. Look out for Selby actor Luke Adamson, once a scrum half for the Selby RUFC fifth team, among the performers. “The bar will be open and there’ll be a hog roast,” says Edmunds.

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Sea Legs Puppet Theatre have sold out both the noon and 2pm performances of their musical adaptation of The Ugly Duckling at Selby Town Hall, set on the banks of a magical river, on July 23.

The festival’s poets in residence, A Firm Of Poets, alias Matt Abbott and Ralph Darford, present short snippets of pop-up poetry at surprise times and locations across the town on July 24, while also gathering the public’s ideas for a brand new poem to be penned specially for the festival. The duo return on July 27 at a surprise location for Pie Men Of The Western World, one hour of poetry not afraid to be political.

The festival teams up with Production Light & Sound for Accelerate, a night of beats, music, art and skating at the Summit Indoor Adventure at 6pm to 8pm for under 16s and 8pm to 10pm for 16 year olds and upwards on July 25. “If you’re feeling energetic, bring your skates, board, scooter or bike and go mad for the mix of rails, ramps and pipes in this amazing indoor skate park,” says Edmunds.

The festival teams up with Selby Town Hall to present Irish comedian Ed Byrne in a sold-out exclusive preview of his new Edinburgh Fringe show, Spoiler Alert, on July 26 at Selby Abbey. “We wanted Selby Town Hall to feel involved, rather than that we were the new kid on the block, because Chris Jones does such a great job there as Selby Town Council’s arts officer, and we want to work alongside them, not against them,” says Edmunds. “The Selby district needs more things to go with what Selby Town Hall already does.”

Boomchikkaboom will be a rave with a difference, a Baby Rave for parents and toddlers, still in a nightclub but with mocktails rather than cocktails and an 11am rather than 11pm start at The Venue on July 27. “Some people say your social life ends when you have children; we say it’s only just begun,” says Edmunds. “This will be a fast-paced, fun-filled session of singing, dancing, shakers, pompoms, bubbles and more in a party-like atmosphere where you’ll enjoy all your favourite feel-good tunes.”

Later that day, in the same Venue, The Grand Old Uke Of York, York’s 14-piece ukulele collective, will be giving familiar hits an unfamiliar twist, and the festival concludes with folk trailblazers Patch And The Giant’s rearranged gig on July 30 at Selby RUFC. Both concerts start at 7.30pm.

Plenty of tickets are still available for the festival; visit selbyarts festival.co.uk for the full programme and to make bookings.