I would like to welcome you to Caribfest 2010 which will be held on August 13 and 14 and 15, 2010 at Centennial Park, in the beautiful city of Barrie. The fourth Annual Barrie Caribbean Festival promises to be a spectacular array of sights, sounds and tastes of the Caribbean. The activities will extend throughout Downtown Barrie as the costume parade wind its way through the downtown streets, along Lakeshore Drive to Centennial Park, the location of the main stage.

Downtown Barrie will come alive with this colorful display of costumes and parades as the masqueraders dance to pulsating Caribbean rhythms along the parade route. The magnificently colorful costumes coupled with the sounds of Caribbean music will present a spectacle that is sure to thrill.

Although the costume parade will be a major part of the attraction for the event, equally impressive is the line up of reggae, calypso, and soca musicians who will be performing on the main stage at Centennial Park. The feedback about the musical performances at Caribfest 2009 was overwhelmingly positive. We are working to build on this, with the addition of new artists, as we want Caribfest to become not only noted for the costume parade, but as a must attend annual event for Caribbean music. As part of this goal, I am happy to announce that a number of leading international Caribbean performers will be on stage at this years’ event. The list of international performers appearing this year include, Beres Hammond, Inner Circle, Culture and Lenya Wilkins from Jamaica and Mighty Sparrow, Bunji Garlin, Fay-Ann Lyons, and Crazy, from Trinidad.

This year I will be implementing measures to limit the impact of the event on the environment. These measures include restricting the use of food and drinks containers to biodegradable containers. The main stage will be powered by clean energy supplied by Bull Frog Power.

I would like to invite you to join us in making this event a great success by volunteering to be part of the organizing committee, becoming a vendor at the event or a sponsor. Whatever way you decide to participate in this great community event, I look forward to working with you as we continue to contribute to the cultural and economic life of Barrie.

Ricardo Rowe
Festival Organizer