Visitors to Penryn can expect sprouts and silliness this Saturday as the resurrected tradition of the Mock Mayor returns to Penryn for the second year running.

Residents are invited to head into the town centre for the event, also known as the Mayor of Mylor, which will begin at 2.30pm, when there will be entertainment and the election of the Mock Mayor by the 'mob'.

The tradition was revived last year as part of the celebration of Penryn's 800th anniversary, and saw the winning candidate paraded around the town and visiting several licensed establishments, while onlookers and members of the parade threw sprouts at each other.

The custom originally involved, on a particular day in September or October when the hazel-nuts were ripe, the 'rabble' of the town going into the country to gather nuts and returning in the evening with boughs of hazel, shouting and making a great noise.

The journeymen tailors of the town meanwhile travelled to Mylor, elected one of their number Mayor of Mylor and carried him back to Penryn on a chair shaded with green boughs, followed by the ‘nutters.’

In front of the town hall, the Mock Mayor gave a speech, mocking the speeches of politicians, before touring the local licensed premises, and part of the ritual involved testing the quality of the local ale, ahead of retiring to their ‘council chamber’ in one of the pubs.

For the modern day ceremony there will be speeches and the election at 3pm. The real mayor, Shelley Peters, will then hand over the town to the Mock Mayor for the day, before he or she inspects the inns and taverns accompanied by musicians and diverse rogues and miscreants.

This will be followed by a feast at 6pm, to which guests are asked to bring food to share, then a bonfire and torchlit procession.