Coconut Grove Invitational “Come Goombay With Us” “I’m A Junkanoo, You’re A Junkanoo Too”!

MIAMI – On Saturday, June 7, 2008 from 11:00 AM till 8:00 PM, The Miami/Bahamas Goombay Committee, Inc., A Florida non-profit 501 (c) organization, will present the 32nd Annual Miami/Bahamas Goombay Festival, along Grand Avenue from Douglas Road to Mac Donald in Coconut Grove’s Village West Island District.

The Miami/Bahamas Goombay Festival is free for the entire family and is the Nation’s largest Caribbean Heritage Festival. Exhibitors travel from the USA, Bahamas, Caribbean and Canada for this historic extravaganza. Over 150,000 attendees come from all over the world to participate in GOOMBAY!

At Noon, Goombay kicks-off with an official parade or “Rush” to Caribbean rhythms featuring Pirates of the Bahamas, stilt walkers. The colorful costumed Junkanoo All Stars, the winners from five of the top Junkanoo groups in Nassau, Bahamas, will also rake and scrape instruments, gyrating and dancing to the rhythmic accompaniment of cowbells, drums and whistles.

Miss Culture Bahamas will also be there presented by the Government of the Bahamas and the office of the The Hon. Charles T. Maynard, Minister of State for Culture.

This year there will be two stages, offering visitors plenty of opportunities to enjoy Caribbean-style entertainment, with highlights to include: chief musical attraction of the Goombay Festival from the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, The Royal Bahamas Police Band, Nadine Sutherland, who represents the Caribbean Tourism Board, singing the official theme song “Big Tingz”, and Reggae Queen, Marcia Griffith, who will lead the Guinness Book of World Records “Electric Slide” Challenge.”

“We are inviting all of South Florida the Caribbean and our international guest to join in this effort to come together as “One Family” and break the world’s record,” said Melody Rolle-Mitchell, President of the Miami/Bahamas Goombay Committee, Inc.

Highlights of the festival include: Special Caribbean Culinary demonstrations with organic foods, fresh fruits and vegetables by Chef Creole shot on location for a television airing on BET J.

For the first time ever, there will be a Caribbean Arts Fair with Fine Art, Posters and Prints from emerging and master Artists from the Caribbean Diaspora, All Tingz Caribbean Marketplace. The arts fair will bring together the best native hand crafted items, native books, calendars, Abaco ceramics, and woodwork.

Guests will also enjoy spicy and exotic foods such as Jamaican Beef Patties, Fish Fry, Conch Fritters, Doubles, Empanadas, Conge, Sugar Cane, Coconut Water, and tropical refreshments by Don Q, Heritage Tours, Exotic Flowers and Plants, and tropical and native apparel, a Kulture Kidz Korner featuring Junkanoo headdress & mask making, drumming workshops, steel pan demonstrations, Trickster Tales, games, prizes and much more!

Goombay will be celebrated this year from Wednesday, June 4 through Sunday, June 8th, with a special GOOMBAY GOSPEL SUNRISE SERVICE at Greater St. Paul AME Church in Coconut Grove, Sunday, from 7:00 a.m. – 9:00 am, and a Goombay Gospel Fest to end the festivities.

The schedule for all ancillary events, parties, and much more can be found on the website, www.goombayfestivalcoconutgrove.com/..

The theme of the celebration is the “Roots of Junkanoo…I’m a Junkanoo You’re a Junkanoo Too”! Junkanoo roots can be traced back to West Africa and is a mixture of different West African elements that emerged as an outlet of expression for the Atlanticized and creolized African and Afro-Caribbean cultures. This created one large entity that all Caribbean blacks accepted as their own. Whether it is John Canoe in Jamaica, Belize and St. Vincent, or even North Carolina, the African roots of the festival remain the same, but the most popular and most consistent are Junkanoo of the Bahamas. It is the Commonwealth of the Bahamas’ foremost cultural by product which defines its national identity.

Junkanoo is the Soul of Bahamian Culture and it is the only aspect of Society that stands out as being truly Bahamian.

The Junkanoo parade is featured in sequences of the James Bond film Thunderball that occurs in Nassau. The parade was also featured in After the Sunset and Jaws The Revenge.

The Goombay Festival was founded in the 1976 by the late Coconut Grove legend, bandleader, musician, and activist, William “Billy” Rolle. It is a reminder of the Bahamian immigrants who first settled in Coconut Grove. The event celebrates the historic and cultural impact of these first black settler, and is dedicated to commemorating the early Caribbean roots of Coconut Grove through arts, culture, heritage, and music. It also recognizes the Bahamas, as the largest single foreign group; and chief trade and tourism partner of Florida, with its closest island being only 40 miles from Miami.

The Bahamas is also “The Gateway to the Caribbean”. The Festival will serve to develop a target market for the second largest population in South Florida, The Caribbean population”. Dr. Preston W. Marshal, Jr., Honorary Host Committee Chair.

It is produced by Miami/Bahamas Goombay Committee, Inc. whose mission is to redefine, preserve and promote the “authenticity” and indigenous culture, history, rituals, traditions, folk life and values of the residents of Village West, Island District in Coconut Grove, of Bahamian descent, and empower this population for community and economic sustainability through the cultural and/or creative industries, recognized as tools for increased tourism, investment, trade, services, and commerce in the global market. The Committee works in cooperation with the Government of the Bahamas, The State of Florida, Miami Dade County, and the City of Miami.