Stands with cakes and sweets made from citrus fruits will infuse Villa Lija with a fragrant smell next Saturday at the seventh edition of the Citrus Fruit Festival.

Residents will also be displaying products with candied peel, liqueurs, citrus fruit marmalades and cakes during the locality's event, which is organised every year during the citrus season.

The festival, to be held between 9.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m., is synonymous with Lija, which also bears citrus fruit on its coat of arms.

This year, the festival received the financial backing of the Events Scheme launched by the Public Dialogue Secretariat and the Malta Tourism Authority. Lija mayor Ian Castaldi Paris said the event promised to be bigger and better.

Parliamentary Secretary for Public Dialogue Chris Said said 56 activities would be benefitting from funds this year that amounted to around €277,000.

Local councils could also benefit from another 24 schemes granting them funds to channel to specific projects, he said.

Tourism Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco said such events were vital to give the tourist the unique experience they were looking for when they chose to visit Malta. He said the event was being promoted on www.visitmalta.com, Malta's official website.