One of the Norwich's snappiest festivals is preparing itself for another week of entertainment and celebrating after the weekend's packed programme.

The fortnight-long Norwich Dragon Festival is already firmly under way but there is plenty more to come and this half term week sees almost double the number of events that took place in the first week of the festival last week.

Co-ordinated by Norwich Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust (HEART), the 2011 Norwich Dragon Festival sees many of the city's venues and heritage sites open their doors over half term, giving people of all ages a chance to get out and see the city in a totally different light.

The half term week activities began on Saturday with a line-up of 18 events, which included a variety of arts, crafts and exhibitions at the Forum.

One exhibition included a dragon created by the Hamlet Centre. It was part of the Dangerous Dragons and Degrees event that ran for most of the day at the Forum, which was organised by Liz Ferguson and Amy Staniforth, who are part of the Outreach team at the UEA and wanted to created a fun and interactive dragon themed learning experience.

Ms Ferguson said: 'It is important for the university to get involved with events like this and to be part of the community. We are really pleased with how busy it has been'.

Getting involved in some of the activities were brother and sister Callum Wall, aged 6, and Chloe Wall, aged 4, from Hingham.

They who got the chance to play with 'dragon snot' and Chloe, who enjoyed the activity, said: 'It's all slimey'.

James Corke, aged 7, from Taverham, got the chance to stroke a bearded dragon and said: 'It is the first time I've touched one. It's really scaly.'

Other events included performances by The King's Morris of King's Lynn and friends and also story tellings at Waterstones, Norwich Castle and St Gregory's Centre for the Arts. There was also a Beasts Unite Dragon Procession that took place across the city.

The festival is co-ordinated by Norwich Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust (HEART).

For more information on the Norwich Dragon Festival please visit www.heritagecity.org/dragonfestival.

To view our photo gallery online go to www.eveningnews24.co.uk

Are you organising a celebratory festival? Contact reporter Donna-Louise Bishop at donna-louise.bishop@archant.co.uk or call 01603 772438.

About the Norwich Dragon Festival

• Full of dragon-related activities and events, the festival is linked to the symbol of the dragon and celebrates its role in the heritage and culture of Norwich.

• There are around 60 events taking place at over 25 venues in Norwich this year, organised by around 30 local organisations.

• Dragons have been a heraldic symbol closely associated with the city of Norwich since the Middle Ages and today dragons are still visible across the city's architecture and feature in many city celebrations.

• The first ever Norwich Dragon Festival ran from January 31 to February 22 in 2009 with around 40 events in over 15 venues across the city. 22,000 people took part, with 100 staff, 89 volunteers and 29 partner organisations working together on it.

• The Dragon Festival won the EDP Norfolk Tourism award for Best Marketing Initiative in 2009.