Inaugural Island Fête Caribbean food festival in Montreal

Montrealers gathered in the West Island Saturday for the first edition of Island Fête, a new Caribbean food and arts festival.

Caribbean food, Black art, live entertainment and BIPOC businesses were the focal point of the free one-day outdoor fest.

Funds were raised for Overture with the Arts, a non-profit that brings arts and culture to youth.

Here’s what people had to say.

Akilah Newton, organizer of Island Fête and founder of Overture with the Arts

“I feel very proud, very excited, there have been talks about people wanting to do some kind of Caribbean food festival in the West Island for years. I’m glad to be part of the inaugural group. It’s just so exciting to see all these people come out and support the community while we’re raising some money for Overture with the Arts.

“My parents are from Trinidad, a few of our employees come from Caribbean backgrounds as well and we’ve never seen this in the West Island.

“There’s clearly a need and a demand.

“We hope this turns into an annual event for it to be two days or three days for many years to come. It’s the first of many.”

Gemma Raeburn-Baynes, Island Fête board member

“Everybody’s having a wonderful time. There’s lots of food, entertainment, music.

“West Island is very diverse. We have a lot of Caribbean people living here, so it’s only fitting that we have a Caribbean festival. We made history today, we made history. We gotta write that down.

“I hope it comes back because it seems as though the people are really enjoying it. A lot of people have travelled to the Caribbean but never had it in their backyard.

“We are going to shake up the West Island.”

First edition of Island Fete festival in Pierrefonds-Roxboro Sept. 2, 2023. (Brittany Henriques, CityNews)

Don Garrett, organizer of Island Fête and owner of Tasty Touch

“(I thought) it would be so nice to see Caribbean being done this way in a festival format in the West Island specifically, and my wife said ‘let’s do it.’ I said ‘what do you mean let’s do it? We can’t do a festival.’ And she said ‘no let’s do it.’

“I’m so happy to share our food and culture with the masses, especially with those in the West Island, we’re from the West Island. There’s a lot of people who are maybe not familiar with Caribbean food so hopefully they get to try it and add it to their menu at home.”

Jim Beis, mayor of Pierrefonds-Roxboro

“I think that its necessary to stay local, we’re able to celebrate local with our citizens have it multigenerational, not have folks have to get in their car to go downtown or other sectors.”