You may have already heard of Black Country Day on July 14th. Perhaps you’ve heard of Black Country Festival. Or maybe you’ve seen the new Black Country Flag flying proudly over Dudley Town Hall. Whether or not you’ve come across these, the buzz surrounding Black Country Festival means you probably soon will and it’s hard not to be excited!

Founder Garry Sawyers’s Black Country Festival idea is simple: promote the Black Country, its people, traditions and heritage by badging events, parties and activities that will already be happening throughout the region in July as Black Country Festival events. All sorts of organisations from parks groups to pubs might be putting on summer activities that can join the Black Country Festival so that communities across the region can all celebrate.

Black Country Day is officially the 14th July. This year it falls on a Monday and that’s why organisers are encouraging activities to take place across two weeks from 6th July. Organisations that are hosting celebration events can register and promote them on the Black Country Festival website, where they can also print off customisable posters. The website also links people that want to run an event to entertainers who could help to add a bit of sparkle!

To keep up with everything, you can follow Black Country Festival on Twitter or join the group on Facebook.

You can also buy the wonderful Black Country flag from the Black Country Museum shop.