"Dublin doesn't have a large, free festival. We have St Patrick's Day, but we don't have a Notting Hill Carnival or an Edinburgh Fringe, " said Duckenfield, who believes that this concept may eventually rival those internationally famous events.

In the past year, Duckenfield has secured funding from the Dublin City Enterprise Board, Dublin City Council, Failte Ireland and radio sponsorship from FM104. And now his dream is a reality. The festival will feature 10 internationally famous street performers. "They're not just guys on the side of the street with a guitar, " Duckenfield said, and the descriptions of the acts performing would certainly back up that statement.

First up is Mike Wood from Canada whose performance involves building a catapult live on stage, then catapulting a cabbage into the air and catching it with a spike on his head. Dan Menendez, aka the Piano Juggler, has appeared on the Jay Leno and David Letterman shows in America and performs by juggling balls that hit a piano at his feet creating classical music. A more traditional performer is mime artist the Sculptor Clown, who encourages audience members to take part in his complex romantic comedy dramas on stage. Then there's Space Cowboy, the ultimate multi-tasker who juggles fire and knives while riding a three-foot unicycle with one foot. Blindfolded.

Admission to the festival is free, and next Friday, to promote the event, all participants will perform at various locations around Dublin city. The winner of the world championship will be decided by a judging panel featuring representatives from Dublin city council, Failte Ireland and FM104. The winner will have to excel in the fields of crowd interaction, audience response, general skill, comedic value and all importantly have a hat full of donations from the crowd.

Duckenfield hopes that eventually the festival will go national, and tour around Ireland.

Similar festivals have been massive successes elsewhere, namely in Christchurch, New Zealand, where three quarters of the population turns up to see the performers and in Zhizouku in Japan, a city of 3.6 million with 1.6 million people attending its festival.