A MINI song and dance festival will entertain shoppers in Newport's John Frost Square, as a taster for the 13th annual Tredegar House and Park Folk Festival next month.

The festival - a weekend of international music and dance - is being staged in association with the South Wales Argus, and makes a welcome return to Newport after being cancelled last year because of the foot-and-mouth crisis.

Shoppers at the Tesco store on Cardiff Road were able to get a taste of festival fever with a folk dancing display in the car park last Saturday.

The John Frost Square event will include dance performances from Ty Sign School, Risca; Dawnswyr Glanllwyd; Shoostring; the O'Donnell School of Irish Dance; Tiger Feet and Brandywine.

And the dancing will be alternated with music and singing from various performers including the local contemporary folk group Beyond The Bars, and members of Newport Folk Club.

But the main event will be held at Tredegar House and Park over the weekend of May 10-12.

On Friday, May 10, there will be impromptu music and song sessions, a ceilidh with Parsley Hay and Newport Folk Club with Eddie Walker as special guest.

The next day there will be music and dance workshops, international dance displays, storytelling, a ceilidh with Juice and a concert with Vin Garbutt. And on the Sunday there will be further workshops, impromptu sessions and dance displays.

The festival began as a seed in the mind of Marcus Butler, of the Marcus Butler Music Workshop, Tredegar House.

In 1988 a small experimental event was run and it's success gave credence to the possibility of a larger, more ambitious traditional folk event the following year, the first official festival.

It has since grown in scope and reputation and for seven years was totally self-sufficient. But by 1996 the cost of mounting the festival was outstripping revenue and help was sought from the Arts Council for Wales.

Now, grants from both the Arts Council Lottery Division and Newport council provide over a third of the cost of the event.

*The folk dancing and song festival at John Frost Square will start at 11am on Saturday, April 27.