Caribbean food & music festival returns to Clermont with hopes of recouping financial losses from last year’s rains
It has technically been less than a year since 10 consecutive days’ of rain flooded the Lake County and overall Central Florida region, but to Stuart Wilson, the memories of that day are as clear as though it were yesterday.
“The skies opened, and they didn’t close for a very long time,” recalled Wilson, a retired Colonel in the U.S. Air Force who, as a community activist and local photographer, resides in his adopted hometown of Clermont. “While we needed those rains back then, they also put a damper on the community events, which hurt attendance, which hurt fund-raising efforts.”
Wilson knows first-hand more than anybody. As president of the Caribbean American Association of Lake County [CAALC], he was a driving force of the non-profit organization’s Clermont Caribbean Jerk Festival, its annual event that raises scholarship dollars for graduating high school seniors looking to attend college, university or trade school.
But because of last year’s tremendous rains, attendance numbers dropped significantly as the downpour increased. And due to that, CAALC lost thousands of dollars that were to go directly to those student scholarships.
“That is what makes this year’s Jerk Festival so important for us,” he said, referring to the upcoming eighth annual Clermont Caribbean Jerk Festival, held at Clermont’s Waterfront Park on Saturday, May 4th from noon – 10 pm. “We are hoping for bright, clear skies this year, so our community can come together again to not only help support our local kids, helping them to continue their education but also to have a truly fun time with some fantastic Caribbean food and entertainment.”
The popular annual Clermont food and music festival has been bringing the Caribbean to Central Florida every summer for the past seven years. This year’s festival features the music of FAB 5, the most popular band in the Caribbean, along with the popular Guyanese star Terry Gajraj, and a Jamaican-born favorite Tory Wynter. There will also be activities for children, and plenty of Caribbean food and beverages for kids and adults.
“Their reggae and soca performances have dancers and partygoers all over the Caribbean dancing and partying well into the night,” said Wilson, about Fab 5 headlining this year’s event “Their versatility and musical skills enable them to entertain crowds with R&B, funk, gospel, jazz, and disco.”
“It will definitely be a fun day and night,” added Mitchell Hill, the Festival’s new chairman on behalf of CAALC. “We are looking forward to presenting a taste of the Caribbean to all our fellow Central Florida residents. Hopefully, we will be blessed with good weather this year, so we can, more importantly, raise scholarship dollars for the kids of our community.”
- The Caribbean American Association of Lake County takes education seriously by actively serving the young people in our community by providing scholarships and mentoring while developing its cultural diversity.
For more information, or to purchase advance tickets to this year’s Clermont Caribbean Jerk Festival held on May 4th at Clermont’s Waterfront Park, phone 352-978-0813, email CAALC@live.com, or visit www.CAALC-FL.org.
