The Flintshire & District National Eisteddfod of Wales 2007 is underway.
A few minutes ago, during the opening part of a concert in the main pavilion, Eisteddfod officials declared the festival officially open.
Competition will start in earnest tomorrow morning with the first of hundreds of competitiors parading in front of the judges cheered on by thousands of spectators and joined by thousands more who will simply wander around the Maes seeing what they can find among the myriad stalls and who they can find to chat too. Many people do that every year.
I'm finding myself looking forward to this event more than previous Eisteddfodau and its to see how a small group of people have managed to take on the task of organising Europe's largest competitive festival in just 18 months. Not only have a multitude of committees set out the syllabus and dreamt up imaginative evening concerts but they also set about raising nearly £200,000.
They've done it too - at the last count they had beaten that target by more than £60,000 which is the amount Eisteddfod chiefs have had to fork out on emergency measures to make the Maes suitable for the average Eisteddfodwr.
I've already had a sneak look at the Maes. Its pretty compact compared to previous Eisteddfod Maesydd and much of the green sward that cattle and sheep grazed on last winter has been covered by 8,000 tons of stone and road planings - the chippings ripped up by roadmen before the tarmac is relaid. You'll find dozens of cats eyes in among the pathways.
The stone will make it easy to walk on but perhaps difficult for the pushchair pushing and wheelchair bound among Eisteddfodwyr.
We'll soon find out and please feel free to come and say hello to me and my colleague, photographer Robert Parry Jones, as we collect material for the four page covereage in the Daily Post every day from Monday to Saturday next week.
But if you can't make it this blog will keep you up to date.
