A festival celebrating the best of local talent is getting ready to mark its 20th anniversary this summer.

The volunteers behind Leytonstone Festival are encouraging businesses and people from the area to apply to showcase their own talents by April 26, as they put together a programme of between 20 and 60 events for the festival in July.

The annual celebration has continually thrown a spotlight on local art, music and culture, said new chairman Ben James, who believes it is the perfect vehicle for showing east London what Leytonstone has to offer.

He said: “It’s exciting to be part of it this year, especially being the 20th anniversary. It’s a great festival. This is a milestone for it.

“It’s primarily focused on the people of Leytonstone and everything that happens here. So we want people to tell us what ideas they have and what they do that would be entertaining for people to be involved with.”

Past attractions of the festival include celebrities like comedian Alan Davies, who headlined last year, and even a marching pipe band, yet Mr James said if someone had not stepped in the festival may not even have gone ahead.

He added: “There’s no money anywhere so we had to hope for the best. We applied to local ward groups, Waltham Forest Council, the Cygnus Trust. We got it from wherever we could.”

But the money is now being allocated to a variety of activities taking place across the area between July 11 and July 21, and anyone with an idea for their own event can email Leytonstone.festival@gmail.com by Friday to have it considered.

A launch event including live music, face painting and much more is being planned for July 7, with more details to be announced shortly.

Mr James said: “If everything comes off it will be great fun, we hope the festival will have something special for everyone.”