Overture with the Arts is gearing up for their third annual Island Fête, a family-friendly event held in Montreal’s West Island.
Guests get to enjoy authentic Caribbean food, live performances by Montreal’s top musicians and DJs, and a vibrant vendor market showcasing BIPOC-owned businesses.
This year’s Island Fête takes place Saturday, Aug. 30, from 12-9 p.m. at Plaza Pointe-Claire.
The co-founder of Island Fête and executive cirector of Overture with the Arts, Akilah Newton, knows exactly what she is most looking forward to: “Eating so much food,” she said. “I am Trinidadian so I love to eat Caribbean food. I’m going to have some curry chicken, hopefully some jerk chicken, pholourie and then just dance it off.”
Don Garrett, who co-founded Island Fête alongside his wife Nicole and Newton, says: “We did participate in festivals in the Old Port and in the city on several occasions, and we always said, ‘why is this not happening in the West Island?’
“Like we saw it, she (Nicole) saw it and said, ‘this would be amazing to have in the West Island,’ and we sat down, we met with Akilah who we’ve had a relationship with for years and we pitched her the idea, and she’s like, ‘that’s amazing.’ She’s like, ‘let’s do it,’ and that was the birth of Island Fête two years ago and now we’re approaching year three.”
Newton says, “Everybody is welcome to join Island Fête. When you hear the word fête in the Caribbean you think party, you think good times, but this event is open to all cultural communities, any linguistic community. We really just want to unite the community and have a great afternoon with this event.”
Garrett on the other hand, is excited for the people, “Crowds, I want to see a lot of people come out, have fun. It’s the last weekend of summer. I want to see the people come out and enjoy Caribbean food, culture, the arts, the music and just have a good time.”
He says approximately 5,000 people attended their first Island Fête in Pierrefonds.
“Montrealers should come out to Island Fête because it really is the only of its kind in the West Island,” Newton said. “We are literally the only Caribbean food and arts festival in the West Island. There are so many activities to do, so many great performers to discover, great food to taste. We have activities for kids, bouncy castles, face painting. It’s just a really fun community event and honestly it’s all about positive vibes.”
“For one, there’s very little detours in the West Island. Parking is very ample, there’s lots of parking and it’s just a good vibe,” added Garrett .
“The biggest challenges that Overture has faced has been Securing location,” Newton explained. “Year one and year two were in Pierrefonds. However, there’s no longer a space for us there only because the weekend that we’re hoping to do it on moving forward is Labour Day weekend, and with schools it’s a little bit hard to do it on location. So finding a location has been the biggest challenge. But we’re very grateful that now we can do it in Pointe-Claire. We still have so much support from Pierrefonds but we think moving forward with Pointe-Claire at the plaza, it’s a perfect location for us.”
Garrett sums it all up: “You really feel the unity in community on the West Island and everybody feels welcome, it’s inclusive to everyone and I think they’ll have a very good experience coming out here.”
