Lauderhill and neighboring Broward cities celebrated Caribbean-American Heritage Month at a festival in Broward Regional Park Sunday. The Caribbean Village Music, Arts, Food, and Wellness festival featured food vendors, a parade, a talent show and a concert by Caribbean musicians.
Lindell Douglas, president of the Galleon Foundation, which sponsored the event, said a primary goal of the festival was to celebrate Caribbean American culture during its namesake month.
Another was to raise funds for Galleon, a community foundation that provides scholarships to local Caribbean students, as well as some students in Jamaica to support their academic and after-school expenses. (Galleon’s total revenue in fiscal year 2013 was $17,411; Douglas estimated the total cost of putting on the event, including the park rental, security and emergency response,and event materials, to be over $45,000.)
Germaine Smith, who is originally from St. Kitts, serves as secretary on the board of the Galleon Foundation. She said the foundation aimed to “showcase all of the islands” represented in the local community — not just Jamaica, but also Trinidad, St. Kitts, the Bahamas and Cuba.
The city of Lauderhill, and Broward County in general, have large Caribbean populations. According to the most recent Census data, nearly one-third of Broward County’s 1.7 million residents are foreign-born. Among those, Haiti and Jamaica are the most common countries of origin.
The festival also included a focus on health and wellness. A group called Physicians Pharmacy was administering blood pressure tests and passing out information about diabetes from its booth. A church, burial services company and multiple banks and financial services companies also had booths.
For festival attendees, though, the lure was simply the promise of fun. AlyssandroAcciao, a Jamaican-Italian 11 year old, got her face painted in the afternoon. She said she was most looking forward to a hula-hoop competition. “I can walk and do hula hoop at the same time,” she said.
