Skipton has become the official host of this year’s Yorkshire Day following a hand-over ceremony in Scarborough.

Yorkshire Day, on August 1, will signal the start of a three-day festival in Skipton involving businesses and organisations.

To launch the festivities, a new Yorkshire Day flag was presented to Skipton Mayor Coun Wendy Clark and Keith Madeley, chairman of the Yorkshire Society, by Coun Helen Mallory, Mayor of Scarborough, which hosted last year’s event.

The flag, which will be passed on every year to the new host, has been jointly donated to the Yorkshire Society by Skipton Town Council and Scarborough Borough Council. It features the Yorkshire Rose, together with the town crests of both Skipton and Scarborough.

Dave Parker, Skipton Town Council chief officer, said it was an honour for the town to be chosen to host Yorkshire Day. “We wanted something that would mark the occasion and create a lasting memento of the event, as Skipton is not likely to be hosting it again for many years,” he said.

“The idea is that the flag will be passed on to the next host of the event, with their own town crest being added.”

Yorkshire Day will see dozens of civic guests from across the county descend on the town. There will also be a party from Skipton’s French twin town of Erquinghem-Lys, including its mayor.

Town centre manager Brett Butler said Skipton Building Society had agreed to be the main sponsor as part of its own 160th birthday celebrations.

He said: “We’ll be releasing more details very soon, but what I can say is that we’re planning to commemorate the original three Ridings of Yorkshire by theming different parts of the town.”