The Big Apple is preparing for a massive dose of Virgin Islands and Caribbean Culture as it welcomes Caribbean Cultural Fest 2012: Caribbean STARPOWER presented by Virgin Islanders United, Inc.and sponsored by the Virgin Islands Department of Tourism and WSTA Radio (1340 a.m.). The event will take place from 2-7 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 2, at the Jackie Robinson Park, located at Bradhurst Avenue and West 148th Street in Harlem, NYC. Kevin Hughes, past president of V.I.U., will serve as the event’s master of ceremonies.
Caribbean Cultural Fest is a large outdoor music concert and shopper’s bazaar, featuring “live” Caribbean music, and a vendor’s plaza filled with authentic Caribbean food, beverages and novelties. The festival is the signature event of Virgin Islanders United, and is an annual event free to the public. “Come early, bring your chairs and get ready to enjoy some sensational music and entertainment,” says Janet Parris, VIU president. “This year, we have pulled out all the stops to deliver a show loaded with super stars. This year is tapped to be our best festival yet.”
Caribbean Cultural Fest 2012 will be broadcast live on WSTA Radio (1340 a.m. and online at www.wsta.com) from 2-7 p.m. The event will be hosted by Addie Ottley, who will broadcast from the festival. The broadcast will also feature a “Jam Band Marathon” where between the live radio remotes listeners will be treated to the biggest hits of Jam Band featuring Nick “Daddy” Friday. Popular Caribbean radio personality Prince Kalunda will serve as the D.J. at the park in N.Y.C., entertaining attendees between performances.
"We in the U.S. Virgin Islands feel a tremendous sense of pride seeing our brothers and sisters living abroad and presenting our culture and our heritage to their friends and neighbors in their adopted homes,” said USVI Commissioner of Tourism Beverly Nicholson-Doty. “Even though you are far away, when we see and hear you in your glory at the Caribbean Cultural Fest, we know you are playing your very important part in promoting the beauty and warmth of the U.S. Virgin Islands,” she said.
Caribbean Cultural Fest delivers a star-studded line-up which reads like a “who’s who” in popular Caribbean music and entertainment. The event lives up to its theme “STARPOWER,” delivering some of the biggest stars in Caribbean Music, including heart stopping performances from music icons who literally define the genres of Calypso and Soca including: Calypso Rose, The Undisputed Calypso Queen of the World, The Mighty Swallow, Winston Soso, and the headliner the Virgin Islands 2012 Road MarchChampions – The Awesome Spectrum Band. The event will also include sizzling performances from The Heart Attack Band, Outta Limitz featuring Elizabeth Watt, The J.C. Caribbean Dancers, Steel Pan Music, the Mocko Jumbie Reviewand so much more.
Virgin Islanders United Inc. (VIU) is inviting all of the Virgin Islands civic and social organizations within the U.S. and the territory to come to New York for this year’s event, and be recognized on-stage, as a show of Virgin Islands unity and pride. “There are people of Virgin Islands ancestry all over the world, and this year’s show is about uniting them wherever they may be, and so we are reaching out to our sister V.I. organizations such as the Freshwater Association in New York, VIA in D.C., Atlanta, and the Virgin Islands Association of South Florida as well as those within the territory, and have them come to New York to join Virgin Islanders United for the biggest celebration of V.I. pride in North America”, explains Kevin Hughes, past president of Virgin Islanders United. V.I.U. is a member of the V.I. Tourism Commissioner’s Ambassadors program, in which V.I. organizations partner with the department in terms of helping to promote the territory, and ultimately in driving traffic to the territory.
V.I.U. is a New York based non-profit, dedicated to the U.S. Virgin Islands and its people. For more information regarding vendor opportunities or membership, call (212) 713-5787. Follow VIU on facebook and twitter or visit www.virginislandersunited.org.
