SVG to feature at Martha’s Vineyard Festival

Residents and visitors to one of the United States’ most affluent tourist destinations will this summer get a taste of Vincentian culture! On August 27, St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) will be featured at a festival on Martha’s Vineyard, a popular summer spot located south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The event is dubbed Vineyard Vincyfest 2016!It is being held under a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Government of SVG {{more}}and Dukes County, Martha’s Vineyard, on September 27, 2014, to encourage and facilitate closer relationships in order to enhance and expand cooperative efforts in preserving common traditions, and celebrating a long history of shared indigenous cultures.

The SVG-MV Sister Islands Committee, formed by SVG Consul General to the USA, Selmon Walters, the group’s director, is organizing the festival in order to honour the MOU. Camille English is chairperson of the festival. Vineyard Vincyfest 2016 will be the ideal summer experience, giving all attending a taste of the amazing culture of SVG – food, music, and arts, including a fashion show, handicraft, and textiles. There will even be a mini Carnival parade!

The event will also feature workshops and demonstrations on some aspects of whaling and boat building to show shared history; basket making; cooking classes; steel pan demo and history; Carnival costume/mask making; and Garifuna education and exhibit.

Another highlight of the event is a raffle, in which some lucky patron stands to win a trip to SVG, with accommodation sponsored by Beachcombers Hotel. The second prize winner will receive a gift basket of Vincentian produced goods.

Over the past few weeks, local suppliers have been working assiduously to prepare their products to be shipped off for the Vineyard Vincyfest 2016.

The Centre for Enterprise Development Inc (CED) and VincyKlus Inc are coordinating activities at the local level, focused on facilitating the participation of local producers in the festival. This includes the gathering of all products, which will be shipped off on August 4. Two representatives from CED and Vincyklus will attend the festival.

A range of agro processed goods, including pepper sauces, green seasonings, chocolates, breadfruit, banana, sweet potato and eddo chips, coconut oils, fruit wines, jams, jellies, fudge and arrowroot starch, among others, will be showcased. There will also be a health and wellness category, featuring soaps, oils and lotions made from local fruits, herbs and spices.

Vineyard Vincyfest 2016 will take place at the Featherstone Center for the Arts, 30 Feather Stone Road, Oak Bluffs, MA, from 12 noon to 7 p.m.