Edmonton’s Cariwest Festival celebrates Caribbean culture through music, dance and more

The largest Caribbean celebration in Western Canada wrapped up in Edmonton Sunday after three days of art, dance and music.

The popular Cariwest Festival, an annual showcase of the rich culture of Caribbean communities, came to a close.

“People love it, I think,” said Samantha Alexander, the president of Cariwest. “It’s hard not find somebody who doesn’t love the Caribbean. You can come for the festival and really embrace what the culture is about through the food and through the music.”

This year, Cariwest Festival celebrated its 40th anniversary. The event brought together thousands of visitors and vendors and from across the country in a celebration of diversity.

“Being able to have that connection with one another, different tribes – African and Caribbean, we’re all one,” said Nwando Amobi at Kiddies Vibe.

“It’s amazing because you see all different creeds, races and everything like that and the one thing that’s universal is love and energy,” added Jaxx, a musician with Toronto’s Level Exodus.

Dance groups and performers from across the country were present to showcase Caribbean heritage through dance and music.

“We’ve been coming to this festival for the last 20 years, and so to be able to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Cariwest is very special,” said Sabrina Comanescu, a choreographer at the Diversity Performing Arts Club of Calgary.

“Everyone comes up from Calgary and they come with their parents and their siblings, so it’s a huge caravan of people coming up, but it’s a tradition.”

“A lot of people when they grow up with their parents they learned how to cook,” added Jaxx. “This is the kitchen. We’re just cooking culture right now and we just want the menu to grow.”

The festival also featured the diverse tastes and fashion of the Caribbean countries.

“People in Edmonton have been always welcoming,” said Clive, the co-owner of Tages and Flags – a fixture of Cariwest for the past 20 years. “We’re originally from Toronto and we just follow the festivals, and we just added Edmonton a long, long time ago to the schedule and we just continue to come.”

“It’s a platform for us to be able to teach the youth about our culture, whether it be about the dance, the music, the food, mask making, making up the costumes even,” added Alexander. “Every year we try to add a little bit more to the festival.”