Written By Wayne Chin

            Greetings most honorable Reggae Fans. I had the opportunity to meet some Irie people from North & South Carolina and Miami, after being invited to the Caribbean Fest in Charleston, South Carolina on June 7th & 8th by Vincent HoSang CEO of Royal Caribbean Bakery in New York.

            Friday started out with a little rain that lasted through out the day on and off, so needless to say the event was less than expected. I must say though, the various Caribbean people from neighboring states, Georgia, North Carolina, and Alabama handled this disappointment with the usual Caribbean style ( Cho, a wey wrong wid dis yah rain doe sah) .

            Despite the fact that there was a few problems, at first, with the organizers in getting a few of the vendors situated,  that was easily ironed out with the expert help of Ms. Elease Amos-Goodwin who was in charge of the program, and the Parks Department workers as they worked tirelessly to help us fix  the problems. To our surprise, the day went off without any further hitches and every one enjoyed themselves. There were many performers from various islands which consisted of actors, story tellers, dancers, and singers. There were Reggae, Steel & Soca bands that  played and entertained us well. The venders all smiled at the end of the evening and all was good.

            To the sponsors, DIAGEO & Air Jamaica, I give a resounding 5 IRIE Salute for effort and the creativeness of bringing the Caribbean way of life to South Carolina but only a C+ for there promotion as I thought it was not up to standard, but hey that's just my opinion,

            Now to the crew, first let me say nuff respect to Sean and his wife who were there with his people ( Danny Dread & Grace) from The Banana Boat Restaurant in Charlotte, North Carolina who were there promoting Royal Caribbean Bakery's patties (Big Up uno self cause uno know sey uno a de bess) also Hazel, Steve, Joe, Bruce and the girls from Jamaica Broilers with there fish nuggets.  I must also give my respect to the crew of the brand spanking new Caribbean Magazine “Carolina’s Caribbean Connection".