Thousands of people will flock to the city to see celebrity chefs, gardeners and other entertainers at this year’s Dundee Flower and Food Festival.
The three-day festival starts on Friday and will fill two acres at Camperdown Park with marquees for one of Scotland’s premier food and lifestyle events.
The line-up includes TV chefs Nick Nairn and Paul Rankin, as well as gardeners Jim McColl, Carole Baxter and George Anderson from the BBC’s Beechgrove Garden.
An impressive 23,000 visitors attended the event last year and organisers are hoping to exceed that figure this time around.
Away from the big names, there will also be other forms of entertainment throughout the weekend as bagpipe and drum band Clanadonia perform, as well as comedy act the Walking Gardeners, who will be wandering around the festival site.
For fans of the theatre there will be a light-hearted performance by acting group Grow Your Own.
There are performances aimed at children, with the Clydebuilt Puppet Theatre’s green-fingered show and a reading of Big Book Tall Tales produced by the Booster Cushion Theatre.
Silly McB the clown performs in various locations throughout the festival over the three days.
This year will also see the Dundee Science Centre team getting involved as they host a new Food Discovery Marquee.
The initiative will see a host of cookery demonstrations take place this weekend in association with the festival, with an aim to give visitors a better understanding of the science behind many of their favourite foods.
On Tuesday, event organisers met depute environment convener Vari McDonald as she took part in one of the events at the science centre by extracting DNA from strawberries in order to learn about its uses in fruit production.
Councillor McDonald used the opportunity to thank everyone involved in putting on this year’s show, and praised the organisers who have managed to bring in the big names.
She said: “Without the help of Dundee Science Centre, James Hutton Institute, the Forestry Commission, Event Scotland and Dundee & Angus College this weekend’s event would not be possible.
“This year’s festival is on track to be as popular as ever and we have managed to attract a range of celebrities that will appeal to a wide audience.
“By getting to take part in this taster event today, I can safely say visitors are in for a treat.”
See more in Wednesday’s Courier.