Spice Island Cultural Festival celebrates Grenada, pays tribute to late Egbert Gaye

Saturday marked the sixth annual Spice Island Cultural Festival at Vinet Park in Montreal’s Little Burgundy.

The festival celebrates the history of Grenada – its people, food and music. Artists performed Grenadian music and dance.

“We want to showcase our beautiful island of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, right here for the Montreal community and for everyone around the world,” said festival founder Gemma Raeburn-Baynes.

Grenadian food was prepared by vendors for festival-goers to enjoy.

“The seasoning is most important. And you’ve got to do like us, everything has to be fresh,” said John Noel, the owner of Uncle John’s Cooking.

“I just use my hands,” added Andrea Rhoden, the owner of Bigga Taste. “Whatever God blessed me with is what I do. Just a little splash, and that’s it.”

Spice Island Cultural Festival in Montreal’s Little Burgundy July 8, 2023. (Gareth Madoc-Jones/CityNews)

This year, the festival paid tribute to newspaper founder Egbert Gaye, who passed away last month.

Gaye was the founder and managing editor of Montreal Community Contact newspaper, which gave a voice to Montreal’s English-speaking Black community.

“He’s still part of us,” said Raeburn-Baynes. “And it’s very important at this festival, since he passed away about a month ago, that we couldn’t do this festival without paying tribute to him.”

Egbert Gaye (Photo courtesy: Montreal Community Contact newspaper)

Here’s what some Montrealers at the Spice Island Cultural Festival had to say Saturday.

“I think it’s a nice thing to do to get people together and let them enjoy themselves. Meet and greet, that kind of thing.”

“We’re having a good time. The food smells good. And, you know, it’s a nice day. I’m off of work and I’m going to enjoy a good day with other people.”

“The food. I’m a big fan of jerk chicken and spicy food, and this is the place to be. I found Grenada over here. I’ve got seafood over there and Caribbean food all the way to the right, so I’m happy.”

“The food. It’s great because it’s all Caribbean food, spicy. It tastes very well and some people don’t eat spice, but they can get some without and with. So it’s really, really good.”

“The different spices, what they use, what the Canadians did, they don’t apply in the kitchen. You know, it’s exotic. It’s a really good one. It makes you feel the dancing. Yeah.”