A huge badger took centre stage at a north-east arts festival last night.
The 10ft tall animal puppet was one of the many art exhibitions that were installed at Aden Country Park, in Mintlaw as part of its first ever arts festival.
The event at the park was organised after a public consultation which asked Aden’s visitors what they wanted from the village’s tourist attraction.
It resulted in a public art strategy which the park will develop over the coming year.
But artwork yesterday included the massive mammal, a poetry walk, sand painting, and an opportunity to play Scrabble in Doric.
The Midsummer Arts Festival, which was blessed with blue skies, was last night hailed by Jenny Johnston – the creator of the giant badger.
Ms Johnston also offered a mask making session and puppet event during yesterday’s festival.
She said: “Luckily we had the sun, and there was lot of visitors who got to see new parts of the park. Aden is so big, so it was great for them to be able to do that.
“The mask making was also good fun, and we had a variety of different people coming along. At first it was a little bit quiet, but more and more people started to come and see what was going on.
“Originally, the badger was going to be a character from history to tie in with the local folklore archives, but there’s so many badgers at Aden and I thought black and white would be great against the green of the park.”
Ms Johnston’s giant badger will remain on display in the park until June 26.
Other activities at yesterday’s event included live music, country fair stalls and drop-in craft activities.
The onsite Aberdeenshire Farming Museum also officially launched its new temporary museum exhibition as part of the Midsummer Arts Festival.
The exhibition aims to explore what visitors think and feel about the farming heritage of the north-east.
