WLRN Public Media | By Alyssa Ramos
Community leaders hope a major celebration of South Florida’s deep Bahamian roots will help preserve the culture.
Founded in 1977, the Goombay Festival returns to Coconut Grove in early June to celebrate South Florida’s deep Bahamian roots and heritage.
For vonCarol Kinchens-Williams, she owes a lot to the Bahamian community. She said she was raised by Bahamians. As a young girl, she spent a lot of time in Coconut Grove, where her aunt owned a salon.
“If you’re not Bahamian, all us have a little bit in us somewhere — from whatever Caribbean island that it may be,” she said at a press conference on Friday to announce this year’s festival.
Kinchens-Williams, who is also the Goombay Committee Chair, hopes to reinvigorate members of the Bahamian diaspora from all over Florida to come together.
This year, festivities will include musical performances headlined by Keke Wyatt and Ball Greezy and Junkanoos, which are traditional Bahamian parades marked by drumming and elaborate costumes.
This story was originally produced by WLRN, South Florida’s only public radio station at 91.3 FM, as part of a content sharing partnership with MIA Media Group. Read more at WLRN.org
