PEOPLE from all over the borough are being urged to take a trip to Lye this weekend as the community hosts a multi-cultural festival.

Lye Festival, the brainchild of a number of residents, will take place this Sunday (September 6), between 11am and 5pm off High Street.

Deputy Mayor of Dudley, Councillor Mohammed Hanif, will open the festival which will host a range of activities and entertainment for all ages.

On offer at the festival will be a fun fair, a roadshow DJ, face painting stalls and an animal display.

A number of food stalls will sell delicacies from a range of cultures including Caribbean, Chinese, British, Pakistani and Indian.

Throughout the day, the library will also be open for people to visit, explaining a glimpse of the area’s history.

Safenah Yasmin, one of the event organisers, said: “Lye used to have a carnival and we haven’t had anything like it for a number of years.

“People from here visit Dudley and Stourbridge for their carnivals and people travel from all over the country to visit Birmingham. So we thought why not hold our own here in Lye?

“We want to put on a multi-cultural festival for the whole of the community and the surrounding areas.

“The area seems to be getting a bit of a bad name recently, so we hope the festival will show Lye for what it really is and help to regenerate the village.

“It will offer people from the borough a chance to see what the community in Lye is really like as everything will be run by members of the local area.

“If it goes well, we’ll hopefully hold a larger festival next year.”