Thousands of house music lovers are expected to descend on the Stray tomorrow, as Love to Be Festival returns to Harrogate.

The inaugural festival, hosted by Sheffield-based events company and record label Love to Be, was held in the town last year.

But Love to Be’s co-director Marc Dennis promised tomorrow’s event (September 6) to be even bigger when he spoke to the Stray Ferret last month.

Set-up was in full swing on the Oatlands Drive section of the Stray this morning, with two large tents, a VIP area and a fairground ride already in place.

Last year’s event proved a big hit in the town, with one happy festivalgoer telling the Stray Ferret it “should have happened here 20 years ago”.

One man added at the time: “The whole purpose of house music is to get people dancing – how can that be a bad thing?”.

House music legend Armand Van Helden is among this year’s line-up, joined by electronic duo Trimtone, TV personality-turned DJ Gok Wan and The Shapeshifters.

There will be a number of food traders at the adults-only festival, as well as bar areas, but festivalgoers are not permitted to take their own drinks into the event.

Love to Be also operates a zero-tolerance drug policy and all bags will be checked upon entry. 

One local resident raised concerns about “unacceptable” noise levels at last year’s festival.

When the Stray Ferret put this to director Mr Dennis last month, he told us a “sound person” monitors the decibels at all times to ensure the music does not go above the legal limit.

The stages are also covered more this year, Mr Dennis said, adding this will “help with the sound levels”.

The festival’s gates will open at midday and last entry will be at 5pm.

The event is due to end at 11pm, as Mark Robinson brings the day to a close.