The volunteers behind a massive free music festival

Tens of thousands of fans attend Youth Beatz in Dumfries for free

The population of Dumfries gets a lot bigger and a lot younger for one weekend every summer.

The Youth Beatz festival, taking place this weeekend, draws about 40,000 music fans - mainly aged between 12 and 25 - to Park Farm.

That's about the same number of people as normally live in the south of Scotland town.

It takes an army of volunteers to put on what is billed as the country's biggest free youth music festival.

Murray Thomson is part of an interactive drama put on as part of the festival

Murray Thomson, 21, from Kelloholm, is volunteering as part of the Toon - an award-winning interactive drama led by young people for young people.

He said it was a huge boost for a rural part of Scotland to stage Youth Beatz.

"Having it down here, it's amazing, because instead of young folk from this area travelling all the way up to Glasgow or Edinburgh for festivals and stuff to do it puts something right in the south west of Scotland," he said.

"It lets young people get out of the house for something a bit more to do than just walk about the streets roaming with their pals.

"It is the largest free music festival in Scotland and I think you can see that with the amount of effort that gets put in behind the scenes."

It has also been good for him on a personal level.

"It's given me a brilliant opportunity to get out to volunteer to be part of something bigger than myself and to meet all these amazing people that work really hard day-on-day, all year round, planning this event," he explained.

"It's not just the weekend that the staff are here, it's all year round.

"It's a massive event to be a part of and you can see the inner workings and stuff like that - it's just brilliant."

Simone Cowan has travelled from Glasgow to be part of Youth Beatz

Simone Cowan, 20, from Glasgow, was at Youth Beatz last year working towards her gold Duke of Edinburgh Award and has returned this year.

She said it actually attracted people from the central belt to the south of Scotland.

"I think it's great because it's free on the point of entry, so it's accessible for a lot of people," she said.

"We have groups from where I am from that actually make the journey down here because it's such a great experience with all the different acts and activities that are on site that cost either very little or nothing at all.

"It's good that it's aimed at families and younger people because there's nothing like that back where I'm from."

Jim Martin said the event helped put Dumfries and Galloway on the map

Jim Martin, 31, from Dumfries, is in his first year as an adult volunteer but has watched the event grow over the last 15 years.

He described his work as a "varied role".

"They have had me doing everything from setting up tents to, previous times, it's been lifting Heras fencing and I was on gate duty earlier," he said.

He said it was easy for Dumfries and Galloway to be an "overlooked area" with people taking the motorway to go "straight up past it".

"I think this is why this is such a good opportunity and it's been going for 15 years now and each year it steadily gets bigger and bigger," he said.

"It's really heartening to know that this is coming from a little town like Dumfries, tucked away at the bottom of Scotland."

He said it was great for young people to have their own "taster experience" of a music festival right on their doorstep.

Chelsay McDill has also been part of the Toon interactive drama

Chelsay McDill, 23, from Dumfries, has also been acting as part of the Toon drama but said her volunteering has involved "a bit of everything".

She said the festival also allowed access for people who might not otherwise get to experience live music.

"I think it's important because it's a big event they obviously do once a year where you can bring your family, your friends," she said.

"You can have such a great time and you're in a safe space even though there's about 40,000 people here.

"The tickets are free, so there's no struggle for needing to buy the tickets, unlike other festivals."

At the heart of it all, is the music, headlined this year by Cascada, Talia Mar, Jonas Blue, Sigala, Saint Phnx and Alice Deejay.

"I am absolutely buzzing to see Cascada," admitted Chelsay.

"I've been brought up with Cascada's music since the day I was born - my mother was obsessed with Cascada - to the age of 23, I still listen to her now.

"So it will be a great opportunity to see Cascada live."