West Indian culture takes over the southern city of Roswell, Georgia on July 13 with the inaugural Roswell Caribbean Festival at Riverside Park. Show promoter, Jamaican Lou Brown, says staging an event of this nature in a suburb of Atlanta, is timely.
“The Jamaica/Caribbean Diaspora is very much vibrant here. We just had reps including the prime minister (Andrew Holness of Jamaica) here. Roswell is an eclectic art district and rich in culture as well,” Brown explained.
He disclosed that businesses from the Greater Atlanta Area’s Caribbean community will be strongly represented at Roswell Caribbean Festival. Cuisine from the West Indies, which has waded into the American mainstream in recent years, music and the arts, will be dominant themes.
“We want foodies and music lovers from far and wide to experience the authentic tastes and sounds of the Caribbean, Asia, Africa and the Americas,” said Brown.
Yellowman, his daughter K’reema, Hezron Clarke, Benjy Myaz, Chyna Nicole, Tony Roy, Junior Holt, Sophia Brown and veteran Keeling Beckford are the reggae acts on the show. Ayana from Barbados and Mycal Sumner from St. Kitts complete the Caribbean flavor.
Brown is originally from Allman Town in central Kingston. He has lived in the United States since the 1990s, first settling in New York City.
For over 20 years, he has called Atlanta home, and has promoted several shows there. He also hosts the syndicated Island Blend Show on WPBR 96.1 FM.
Roswell was a bastion of the cotton industry which drove the American South during the 19th Century. The eighth largest city in Georgia, it has a population of almost 100,000.
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