Bradford Festival will be a massive six-week jamboree this year. Organisers have revealed that the 2000 event will be by far the biggest staged in the city.

They are negotiating with the BBC to stage part of a national live music event in Centenary Square.

The aim is to run a three-day street festival over the Bank Holiday weekend of May 27 to 29 which would kick off the festival and be linked with the BBC's Music Live event.

Bradford Festival director Mark Fielding said he was very excited with the way this year's event was shaping up.

"It's a bigger deal than ever before and there will be some real high points along the way. It's going to be a very good festival," he said.

The festival will continue with two street theatre weekends on June 2 and 3 and 9 and 10, the first of which is likely to feature a large-scale street theatre performance in Centenary Square.

The highlight of the following weekend will be the traditional Lord Mayor's Parade, after which Centenary Square will be transformed into Caf Bradford for the rest of the festival, with a licensed bar and food stalls.

Three Big Nights will be held in the square on June 22, 23 and 24, reflecting the festival's overall theme of World in A City. And the event will reach its crescendo with the world famous Mela at Peel Park on July 1 and 2.

Until last year the festival has usually been spread over a fortnight, with big events being held on only three main weekends.

Mr Fielding said the festival organisers had been keen to try to incorporate a Bank Holiday because the feedback they had had from festival-goers was that they were keen on events being held at the weekend.

"Also, because it's the year 2000 we wanted to do something that was bigger and better to help the people of Bradford celebrate this unusual year," he said.

Mr Fielding could not say for sure that the 2001 festival would also stretch from the end of May to the start of July.

But he added: "Over the course of time the idea has always been to make the festival bigger and better and more focused on themed weekends.

"In many ways we are putting on at least three festivals in one this year."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.