CROWDS flocked to Herne Bay at the weekend for the opening of the town's annual festival – but campaigners fear thousands more had no idea it was on.

Organisers say they printed more programmes than ever before but critics say they could find none around the town.

Campaigner Kim Hennelly, who battled unsuccessfully to stop town bosses shutting the visitor information centre, is now demanding a full investigation.

She said: "I could find nothing, not even a poster, at Herne Bay council offices.

"I went to the benefits counter and had to ask for a brochure, given begrudgingly.

"There was no promotion of the festival or Herne Bay, just a handover of the leaflet.

"Is this not our new visitor information centre we were promised would be a vast improvement on our previous vibrant and information-dedicated visitor information centre?"

Brochures were not available in the library or museum, and Kim saw another visitor asking for some.

She even tried the Canterbury visitor information centre but found nothing there, not even a poster.

And to add insult to injury, the interactive computer screens at Herne Bay council offices are broken, and may not be fixed until the end of next week.

In a hard-hitting e-mail to council bosses she fumed: "You took away our visitor information centre on the promise that the replacement service would be more efficient.

"We are in the midst of our annual festival where local businesses rely on summer tourism trade to see them through the harsh winters.

"You fail to promote the festival to a wider audience outside the town, fail to provide any VIC service but will, I am sure, relentlessly pursue payment of commercial rates. It is time you were seriously bought to task about your conduct."

But festival organiser John Hawkins said Kim could just have been unlucky.

He said: "It is possible to walk into one of the venues only to find the last brochure has just gone.

"We printed more than we have ever done before and they are going like hot cakes.

"They are available in the library, museum, council offices and shops and cafes around the town, and it's unfortunate that Kim couldn't find one. The information is also available online."

Festival picture special: Pages 16 and 17