THE jumpers are up and our most anticipated winter event officially swings into action from today.

The creators of the tree masterpieces spent yesterday putting their masterpieces up around the city.

Art Gallery director and Jumpers and Jazz organiser Karina Devine said the talent on show during the festival never failed to impress.

"We get a mix of people making the jumpers and we have had some really lovely ideas from the fusion theme," she said.

"People are so wonderful and never run out of creativity."

Coach tours will bring out-of-town visitors to Warwick and Ms Devine said J&J fever had definitely struck.

"Dealing with the Facebook page you can see it is growing daily with lots of followers and comments and a lot of people are sharing the posts," she said.

"I think a lot of people really engage with the festival and most of it is free and is great for families and everyone."

One of the big projects this year has been transforming the pepperina tree beside the art gallery into what has been dubbed "The Woollow Tree".

"It has been a massive project that has been worked on by over 100 knitters - both local and away," Ms Devine said.

"Decorating the tree like we have is something we have never done before. It honours the four seasons and has some beautiful elements and is interactive, so people can sit on the crocheted stump and take photos."

Ms Devine said the festival could not be the success it continued to be without the dedicated volunteers. "We have a relatively small band of volunteers - it's no more than 20 people - and it is remarkable how much they can achieve," she said.