SHAPE Summer Fest is a festival for young people and families that takes place on Saturday 16 July in Sandwell Valley Country Park in West Bromwich.

This year the event will include a Young Traders’ Market for young entrepreneurs. Anyone aged 16 to 30 can register for a free stall to showcase their budding business idea and sell their goods. The festival also includes a careers expo run by Connexions Sandwell with education providers, training providers, job opportunities and interactive workshops. 

But SHAPE isn’t just about business. There is also a youth bus with a DJ, gaming stations, arts activities, karaoke and a talk show. The two music stages will feature a full schedule of performances including bhangra, steel pans, choirs and DJs.

The wellbeing zone offers information on a huge range of health issues, including drugs, disability, mental health, domestic abuse, extremism, fostering, caring and victim support. Workshops on gardening and growing your own food will be taking place in the nature zone, and there’ll be loads of storytelling and arts activities in the cultural education zone.

The family zone has a theatre show, circus skills, workshops, games and activities, and the sports zone includes a climbing wall, zorb football, weightlifting, boxing, cricket and a football tournament for kids between five and eight years old. And to maintain energy levels and keep you satisfied throughout the day, the food zone will have vans offering up a variety of tasty treats.

Some of the activities, including the Young Traders’ Market, do need to be booked in advance, so check the website for more information. The application form for the Young Traders’ Market is here and you can email shape_events@sandwell.gov.uk with questions.