Final preparations underway for gig
It may be the first festival she has organised but Samantha Manning is hoping that this weekend's Quarryfest will be a sell out.
Along with her husband Steve and a team of workers, she has been busy preparing the site for the festival, which takes place on Saturday in Shrewsbury with an expected crowd of 2,000.
"We have sold 1,800 tickets so far," said Samantha, who works for a housing association. "The marquee has a capacity of 2,000 so we are hoping it will be a sell out on the day."
The festival, billed as Shrewsbury's No 1 family friendly undercover gig, will play host to three tribute bands – Madness, Abba and Bruno Mars as well as five bands from the Shropshire area.
"We are really looking forward to the day," said Samantha. "We started on the site today and the lighting and staging will be going in tomorrow.
"This is the first year we have done anything like this. At the time we decided to do it there wasn't much planned for the Quarry, and then once we had committed to it they announced the 80s concert and the Fake Festival.
"We love going to festivals and realised there was space for one in Shrewsbury. It has been a steep learning curve for us and we have had a great time doing it together. It has been really nice. We would definitely do it again.
"I have seen the Madness and Abba tribute bands before but I haven't seen the Bruno Mars act live. I have seen him on video and we have had some great feedback about him."
For more information and to book tickets go to www.quarryfest.com. Tickets will also be available on the door. The festival runs from 1pm-11pm.
