This was our first Island Roots Heritage Festival!!

A weekend full of family and fun to learn more about Bahamian Heritage through learning old time games such as shooting marbles, spin tops, hoola hoop, skip rope, Tug of War Championship and even kite and coconut bark boat building. Our booths featured delicious Bahamian food from morning to night, beginning with a hearty breakfast of fire engine, stews and souse and ending with some conch salad freshly cut up right before your eyes or a delicious homemade coconut pie!

We had an art show featuring local artists displaying their photographs, quilts, watercolours and paintings, seaglass, gold and silver jewelry, wood carvings and palm frond masks. There was storey telling by Kayla Lockhart Edwards, hairbraiding, abaco dinghy demonstrations and races, straw plaiting demonstrations with a beautiful display of straw bags and matts to purchase, junkanoo parade, plaiting of the Maypole, a Key West Bahamas Village Business Association display, The Amy Roberts All Age School presentation on the history and Independence of the Bahamas and even a booth featuring Bush Medicine with short talks on how to help diabetes and heart conditions with bush medicine. Even our foreign home owners joined in by offering a delightful tent of 'Island Roots Too' featuring delicious foods from their native homes. Everyone joined in to make this a spectacular event!!

One highlight of this festival was having The Key West Chorale of 60 singers present an evening concert at Alton Lowe's Garden Theatre. Over 200 people enjoyed this once in a lifetime event! And the biggest highlight was having The Royal Bahamas Police Force Marching Band parade through the streets of Green Turtle Cay right onto the festival site at Settlement Point! Wow, what a display!!! It was a great weekend had by all that was closed most appropriately with a Ecumenical Community Worship Service held on Sunday morning at the Festival Site and attended by all the churches of Green Turtle Cay and their visitors from near and far. A time for thanks and praise with hopes of having the festival continue in 2005!