A major West Midlands business festival has been postponed until the autumn as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
The Black Country Business Festival was due to be held from May 11 to 21 but organiser Black Country Chamber of Commerce said it would now take place from October 5 to 15.
The annual festival encompasses hundreds of free business events which take place throughout the Black Country region with the aim of helping businesses grow and drawing attention to the region.
Its event management company Associate Events has been contacting all event organisers, sponsors and venue partners with the news
Chamber chief executive Corin Crane said: “This is an extremely difficult time for everyone but our primary concern must be health and safety which is why we took the decision to postpone the festival until the autumn.
“We believe this move will also safeguard this fantastic Business Festival so that it will remain a permanent feature in the Black Country business calendar long into the future.
“We would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding at this time and we hope to rely on the support of our amazing business community to pull together and help reignite the Black Country business scene through this significant initiative later in the year.”
Associate Events managing director Alister de Ternant added: “It is obviously a very fluid situation and although we are working towards a physical festival in October, the reality is we just don’t know what the position will be.
“Should there be a forced requirement for live events not to go ahead at that time, we have already put plans in place to allow the entire Business Festival to be run on a digital basis, with events being live-streamed using a platform that will be accessible to everyone.”