WHAT a flood of festivals this month: York Early Music Festival and Harrogate International Festival start today, Ryedale Festival opens a week later, and tomorrow the tide rises again for the Festival of the Rivers in York.

Now in its fourth year, this festival promises to be “bigger and better than ever this year with something for everyone, whatever their age or interest” to celebrate the Ouse and the Foss.

“York’s rivers have played such an important role in the city’s history and are a key part of its character,” says Gill Cooper, City of York Council’s head of arts and culture.

“The Festival of the Rivers gives us chance to celebrate the part they play in life in York, with a host of different activities to appeal to all age groups.”

The festival runs from tomorrow until Sunday, July 26, and highlights include the Rotary Great York Dragon Boat Challenge on Sunday, when 36 teams of 16 paddlers will row between Scarborough Bridge and Lendal Bridge from 10am to 4pm. Canoe races will take place at Millennium Bridge from 2pm on July 25, the same day when the Model Boat Club Regatta will be held in Rowntree Park, opposite the café, from 10am.

Rowntree Park’s 88th birthday will be celebrated with more than 40 stalls, falconry, bouncy castles, trampolines and other activities on Sunday from 2pm to 5pm. The Marygate Raft Regatta returns on July 19 at noon with a fund-raising race for Jorvik-Afloat, who want to bring back the Viking Long Boat to the city’s rivers.

Two events will be staged on board the Room 58 barge at Kings Staith. From July 15 to 17, Fulford School, Riding Lights Theatre Company and City of York Council will present the Tales By The River theatre performance for young children in a journey of discovery and adventure at 10am and 1pm daily.

From July 20 to July 22, York’s Ghostfinder General will oversee the dramatic storytelling sessions of Tales Of The River, an exploration of the seedy underbelly of York’s past in three nights of death, despair, blood and gore at 8pm nightly.

The Northern Historic Group, meanwhile, will re-enact life in troubled times in York in July 1644 in Relief Of York By Prince Rupert in Tower Gardens on July 18 and 19. From 10.30am to 4.30pm, you can see a pike drill, musket displays, the firing of cannons as Prince Rupert valiantly relieves our fair city.

Among the ways to stretch your limbs will be the Dance By The River salsa classes in Tower Gardens on July 25 from 3pm to 9pm, followed by an open-air Latino party at 9pm.

York Canoe Club will be offering “have-a-go” canoe sessions as part of their 10am to 4pm events at the Foss Basin tomorrow, Sunday, July 18, 19, 25 and 26. Booking is necessary for courses on 07808 682340.

York singer and writer Miles Cain will host three evenings of live music and poetry in The Music Of River performances on July 15 at Melton’s Too in Walmgate at 8.30pm and aboard the Syntan barge at Kings Staith on July 17 and 18, at 8pm. City Screen, York, will show The African Queen (cert U) on July 21 at 6pm. On July 22 and 23, the Tropical Hibiscus Floating Paradise will be a dance theatre performance and Hawaiian-themed party when dance company 103 Falling Birds take a cruise down the Ouse, setting off from Lendal at 8.30pm.

• Further information on the festival is available on the council website at york.gov.uk