Two of the things I love best about Waterbury are its summertime ethnic festivals and its diversity of culture and food, so I was delighted to learn that the
West Indian Social Club of Greater Waterbury was launching an annual
Jerk Festival. I had a busy day, but I made time to swing by the festival for lunch and take a few photos.
For those who are unfamiliar with the term, "jerk" is a spicy Caribbean dry-rub barbeque (in simplest terms).
Connecticut has the sixth largest non-Hispanic West Indian population in the U.S., with 87,149 immigrants reported in the 2010 Census.
A 2013 Census report estimates that Waterbury has 3,304 non-Hispanic immigrants from the West Indies, with 2,185 of those people coming from Jamaica.
The festival included food trucks and food tents, with barbeques grilling up a variety of good food.
|
Southern Bell Soul Food & Catering Truck: not quite as far south as the West Indies, but still delicious. |
|
Turkey Hut food truck: jerk turkey sandwiches, fried fish, popcorn chicken, and more. |
|
Jamaican jerk pork, jerk chicken, curry chicken, stew chicken, and rice & peas. |
|
Magic show for the kids. |
|
When the DJ took the stage, everyone started dancing. Live bands performed too. |
|
South End Cheerleaders dancing to the Cha Cha Slide. |
In addition to food and music, there were vendors with a variety of clothing, jewelry, CDs, and other items.
|
There was light rain pretty much all day, but it stayed fairly dry under the trees. |
No comments:
Post a Comment