WHITEHAVEN Alive released its first wave of acts today (March 22) and organisers have shared details on what you can expect from a 'new and improved' system.

Firstly, the festival will take place on Whitehaven harbour this year, rather than the athletics stadium like last year. Organisers said that any licensing issues from last year have been resolved and the festival will take place across the harbour.

The main stage will be located in Argos carpark, and the VIP area will be in the carpark opposite which is attached to Zest Harbourside.

The festival will include double the amount of stalls that it had last year, covering the span of the front of the harbour, and new additions such as food demonstrations will take place.

To avoid any issues resolving from toilet queues, director of Alive Entertainment Group Liz Cannon said: "We have made sure we have twice as many toilets this year than we did last year.

"Whilst we have more ticket sales, we want to resolve any issues with queing that people noted last year."

The festival has many new sponsors this year such as Mitie, and returning sponsor Porsche.

Representatives from Mitie said: "We wanted to sponsor the festival to demonstrate the commitment we have to our team and the community. It is all about the people and what we work towards."

Mitie also shared how excited they were for this year's event: "We can't wait!"

There is another wave of acts expected to be annouced soon, Liz Cannon said: "On Friday, we have a more pop vibe going on, Saturday is very much indie and for Sunday, we have a '70s sound going on which will finish a little bit earlier so it is more family friendly.

"It is going to be a really good weekend."

Oliver Hodgson, founder and managing director said: "It is really important to us that the event is back on the harbour, we are really looking for a community feel so the whole town can get behind it.

"Having the whole festival right across the harbour, has been something we have worked hard on to finalise.

"We will have the food market across the whole boulevard and at the bottom is where the Mitie main stage will be, where we will have headliners across a range of genres who will grace our stage across the weekend.

"We can't wait to welcome everybody in September."