ARTS Festival organisers in Okehampton are upset that the town council has arranged for the circus to come to town the same week.
In a letter to the council, one of the organisers, Alan King, said the presence of a circus performing in the town on the Thursday/Friday and Saturday nights of the week of July 10 to 16 had the potential to diminish the attendance of arts festival events.
The town council agreed to host a circus in Simmons Park after it received a request from two circus companies — it was the opinion of members that it would be an added attraction for the town.
Mr King said the programme of events for the arts festival was much extended from 1999 and the organisers had been on the verge of approaching the town council about putting a marquee in Simmons Park for some of the activities.
He said they had considered cancelling the arts festival or downsizing it because of the circus and asked if maybe the dates of the circus could be negotiated.
Town councillors said they had to fit in with the dates that the circus had available and considered at the time of making the decision that it would fit in appropriately with arts festival week.
Cllr Perry Vallance said: 'How can they be sure the circus will detract people from the arts festival — it may attract more people to the town who may want to look at both events.'