First ever Vineyard Vincyfest hailed a success

The inaugural Vineyard Vincyfest 2016 held recently on Martha’s Vineyard is being hailed a success, having opened the gateway for improved relations between St Vincent and the Grenadines and the affluent United States tourist destination.{{more}}

The festival, held August 27, featured the cultural aspects of St Vincent and the Grenadines at the popular summer spot located south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, through a memorandum of understanding (MOU), signed between the Government of SVG 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.

Vineyard Vincyfest showcased a bevy of activities that ranged from live performances by the young pannists from the South East Steel Orchestra to the introduction to the Garifuna history and culture of St Vincent. But all of this provided an excellent backdrop for what was definitely the main attraction – the Marketplace!

The Marketplace showcased a wide array of agro and health and wellness products from producers in St Vincent and the Grenadines. This was coordinated by the Centre for Enterprise Development Inc and VincyKlus Inc. They were represented by CED business development officer/VincyKlus general secretary and facilitator Nisha Glasgow, and CED training coordinator/PRO and VincyKlus PRO Keisha Phillips.

According to Phillips, Vineyard Vincyfest 2016 exposed the residents and vacationers on Martha’s Vineyard to a taste of “things Vincy” and left them – along with members of the Vincentian diaspora who patronized the event, craving for a visit to SVG and many more Vincentian goodies.

“We knew that there’s a great demand for our local products in the diaspora in New York, Pennsylvania, Atlanta and Boston, yet the response was heartening on the Vineyard. From the beginning, persons were in a rush to get their hands on the goods that were being showcased.

“We featured over 50 different products that came from 16 producers from the creative and agriculture sectors, including pepper sauces, green seasonings and coconut oils in different flavours; local arrowroot starch; nine flavours in fruit wines; plantain, banana, eddoes, sweet potato and breadfruit chips; bags; soaps, lip balms, body butter, foot scrubs and soaks made from local herbs and spices, and much more.”

Phillips says the Marketplace, which also showcased local cocoa sticks, coconut fudge and guava cheese and jelly, gave patrons the opportunity to sample the different pepper sauces and wines and that the feedback was positive.

“The residents on the Vineyard were particularly enthused by the hot sauces, which were sampled with plantain chips, ham and chicken cuts, while the Vincentian diaspora marvelled at the fine wines which came from their homeland!”

She says as a result, businesses on the Vineyard – and also in New York – have expressed interest in various goods that were showcased.

“We at CED and VincyKlus are indeed happy with the opportunity provided through this MOU between our government and Martha’s Vineyard that has allowed our products to reach their shores. The potential for much bigger things exists and we hope to capitalize on this to the benefit of the Vincentian business sector. In particular, we at CED and VincyKlus set out to find markets for our clients and members, and we can say that as a result of Vineyard Vincyfest the dialogue has started,” Phillips states.

The event was spearheaded by former consul general in New York Selmon Walters.

“We are grateful to Mr Walters for his passion and vision in seeing this event come through. We also thank our sponsors and producers, who made this possible.”

CED/VincyKlus’ participation in Vineyard Vincyfest 2016 was made possible through sponsorship from IICA, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, and the Sugar Apple Inn (Bequia).