Caribbean Festival bringing island culture to Minneapolis Aquatennial

The annual Caribbean Festival is taking place in Minneapolis on Saturday, bringing island culture and food to West River Road.

Organizers call it the biggest Caribbean Festival in the Upper Midwest and a top spot to celebrate community, music and more.

Caribbean food is one of the top attractions.

“So we got our famous jerk chicken. We got our traditional curry goats, oxtail. We have our Aki and saltfish. It’s a traditional Jamaican dish,” said Alecia Brock, a co-owner of Rose’s Jamaican Kitchen.

Brock’s food truck has brought the smoke for a decade at the annual event.

“You see Trinidadian, you see Jamaican, you see everybody from the Caribbean just all come together and just celebrate with all these bright colors,” Brock said.

Organizers say there are more than 100,000 Caribbean people within the Twin Cities, and 45% are Guyanese.

“It’s our way of sharing our culture and teaching others about our culture. So it’s a big cultural, family-friendly event that every year we fortunately keep it going for so long,” said CariFest organizer James Byron.

Byron, who is from Trinidad, says the event is three decades strong, featuring several vendors, musical performances and a parade.

“It gives us a taste of home … in every respect,” Byron said.

The Caribbean Festival is part of the Minneapolis Aquatennial festivities; click here for a full list of events.