Caribbean Communities Celebrated On The Green

After being introduced as the reigning Miss Puerto Rico of Greater New Haven, Johanelyz Arroyo lifted her arms, shimmied her shoulders, and walked down a stage on the New Haven Green. She wore an aquamarine gown adorned with seashells, pearls, and layers of iridescent tulle – nautical details chosen to reflect her Puerto Rican heritage.

She twirled in the summer heat during Saturday afternoon’s Caribbean Heritage Festival, a six-hour celebration of the city’s Caribbean communities. Now in its 11^th year, the annual event was held in partnership with the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.

Thirty-nine vendors and nonprofits set up across the Green, offering everything from sweet plantains and handmade purses to housing assistance and beaded solidarity bracelets. Performers included headliner Nadia Batson — who sang soca, a high-energy musical style from Trinidad — saxophonist Mystic Saxx, and drummer Gammy Moses. 

Arroyo attended the festival with fellow prize winners from New Haven’s Miss Puerto Rico pageant. 

“It’s an opportunity to learn more about the creativity that people add to the community,” she said. While she knows Puerto Rican culture well, she said she was excited to learn more about the broader Caribbean diaspora.

Standing beside her was Isonnette O’Brien, this year’s Miss Puerto Rico Princess. She said she felt ​“embraced” by the festival’s welcoming, lively spirit. 

As she adjusted an orange flower in her curly hair, she reflected on the diversity within Caribbean identity. 

“I wish people understood that we are not all the same,” she said. While there are many similarities among Caribbean people, ​“we are also unique in different ways.”

That impulse to highlight both shared culture and distinct traditions resonated with the event’s longtime organizers, Karaine Holness and Shermaine Edmonds. 

“Our countries are popular tourist destinations,” Holness said. ​“So people don’t think that we have culture.”

With a smile, Edmonds added, ​“We are not just sun, rum, and fun.”

Holness, who immigrated from Jamaica in 1987, said she still considers herself ​“100 percent Jamaican, all the time.” That pride has fueled more than a decade of organizing the Caribbean Festival — an effort, she said, that takes ​“blood, sweat, tears, leg, foot, and left hip” to pull off each year.

“The main ingredient is passion,” said Edmonds, who is originally from Dominica. She hopes the festival introduces more people to her home island.

“People fill in ​‘Dominican Republic’ when I say Dominica,” she said. While they have similar names, Dominica is a distinct island nation known for its hot springs, rainforests, and Creole traditions. 

Across the Green, behind a table lined with hand-carved drums, Mosi Moses explained how they were made: the bodies are crafted from tree bark, she said, and the heads stretched from animal hides. ​“The ropes on the side can be tightened or loosened to change the sound,” she added. 

“Drumming is a very integral part of the culture,” she said, holding one of the narrow-bodied conga drums in front of her. 

Sitting on lawn chairs in a shady patch of the Upper Green, Melissa Bickford and Jamella Abrahams sipped cool drinks and watched the performances. They met through their husbands over 27 years ago and have been friends ever since. They come to the event every year, partly, they said, as a way to celebrate Abrahams’ Jamaican identity. 

“We like how there’s a variety of different cultures here,” said Bickford. 

Abrahams agreed. ​“There are so many different booths. You see something new and interesting every year,” she said. 

Before Nadia Batson took the stage, they said they planned to walk around, explore more booths, and find something special to take home.