The beer is set to flow today as Saltaire Festival picks up speed.

Members of the Bradford branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) have been pilling the barrels high and setting the taps running at Victoria Hall in readiness for thirsty drinkers to sup any of the 38 beers on offer.

Beer festival organiser Mick Farrar said he was expecting a huge crowd. He said: "Friday afternoons are a very busy session.

"We have people coming in and out and it gets very busy with the glass deposits and washing them. It's a great atmosphere and everyone has a great time."

The beer festival is one more than 60 events that have been planed for the 11-day event which kicked off last week with events including the Saltaire Festival Ball and the show Saltairy Tales.

Bingley Little Theatre's youth group, Kaleidoscope, performed a new play, Schooling Miss Martha, at the United Reformed Church and the Mikron Theatre Company put on entertainment about the life of the wife of inventor Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

One of the highlights of the fourth annual festival is a herd of alpacas - woolly, South American members of the camel family who helped build Saltaire's fame and fortune more than 150 years ago.

Saltaire festival organiser Helen Kemp said: "This was just a little idea from a relative of someone who lives in Saltaire who breeds alpacas. We do not know how it's going to turn out because apparently alpacas do not like being looked at, and they are going to be looked at for days on end."

Georgia Woollard, of Magic Number Three caf, which sits in the heart of the World Heritage Site, said: "I think the festival is fantastic. It is really vibrant and exciting and is really good for Saltaire because it brings people into the area."

The festival concludes with a weekend of more than 17 events including a continental street market on tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday; Saltaire's first garden festival in Roberts Park on Saturday and Sunday; and West Yorkshire Organic Group's organic fruit and veg show which takes place on the Saturday at Shipley College's Exhibition Building between noon and 4.30pm.

The 2006 Model Railway Exhibition starts on Saturday at Baildon Recreation Centre in Green Lane, Baildon. Three floors of the centre will be crammed with layouts and demonstrations from all over the country as well as trade stands.

On Saturday doors open from 10am to 5pm and on Sunday from 10am to 5pm.

Admission is £4 for adults, children £2, senior citizens £3.20 and a family ticket is £10.20. CAMRA's beer festival takes place between 11am and 11pm at Victoria Hall today and tomorrow.

e-mail: saima.mir@bradford.newsquest.co.uk