Antigua Carnival
Jul - Aug , 2008 - TBA
Barbados Crop Over Festival  Jul 27- Aug 3, 2008
Bermuda Music Festival
Oct  2008 - TBA
Dominican Merengue Festival 
Jul 1 - Aug 31, 2008
Dominican Republic Jazz Festival - Nov 2008 TBA
Jamaica Reggae Sumfest
(Montego Bay) Jul 13-19, 2008
Puerto Rico Heineken Jazzfest - Jun 1 - 30, 2008
St Lucia Jazz Festival
May 2 - 11, 2008
St Lucia Carnival
Jul 21-22, 2008
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Vincy Carnival
Jun 27 - Jul 8, 2008
Dominica World Creole
Music Festival 
Oct  31 - Nov 2, 2008
St Kitts/Nevis Music Festival
Jun  26-28, 2008
Grenada  Carriacou Regatta 
Aug 1, 2008
Trinidad Festival of Lights
Oct 28, 2008
Trinidad Carnival
Feb 4-5, 2008
Tobago Goat & Crab Race
Mar 24, 2008
Tobago Heritage Festival
Jul 12 - Aug 2, 2008
Trinidad Emancipation Day - Aug 1, 2008
Trinidad Great Fete Weekend
Jul 24-29, 2008
Trinidad -Leatherback Turtle Conservation 
Aug 6-12, 2008
Barbados Holetown Festival
Feb 17-23, 2008
Barbados  Oistins Fish Festival
Mar 22-24, 2008
Martinique Carnival
Feb 3-6, 2008
St Martin/St. Maarten Carnival -Apr 17 - May 3, 2008
Curacao Jazz Festival
Aug 2-9, 2008
Curacao Salsa Festival
Jul - Aug  2008 - TBA
St. Kitts/Nevis Carnival
Dec  08 - Jan 09, 2009
Junkanoo Carnival  - Nassau
Dec 26 - Jan 1, 2009
Bahamas, Nassau
Emancipation Day  Aug 4, 2008
St John, USVI Emancipation & American Independence Day
July 1-7, 2008
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Guadeloupe Festival of Women Cooks - Aug  2008 TBA
Barbados Annual Jazz Festival
Jan 14-20, 2008
*Trinidad's Carnival is the definition of  "street party" -
This is where Carnival was
invented  Five days leading up to Ash Wednesday, all vehicles are banished from center of Port of Spain. All Caribbean islands have Carnival celebrations, however
Trinidad takes CARNIVAL to
another level of celebration.
Hundreds of hikers and conservationists travel to the coastal regions of Trinidad and Tobago to watch (and guard) Leatherback Turtles while they lay their eggs.  During this same period, the Islanders of Tobago participate in one of their most anticipated events of the island: goat and crab racing.
*Reggae Sumfest, Montego, Jamaica is the Reggae event of  the Summer held annually in July. Visitors travel from other Caribbean Islands, the US, Canada, England and Europe.
*Great Fete Weekend, on island of  Trinidad is a five-night beach party at Club Pigeon Point, Top DJs, Soca and pop rock stars from Trinidad and Tobago. Great Fete is extreme partying at its best.
*Dominica World Creole
Music Festival  is one of most
prominent festivals in the
Caribbean. The tiny island gets
plenty crowded hosting
Creole singers, dancers, and
visitors from around the world.
*Trinidad's Divali, or Festival
of  Lights, is one of the most anticipated events in Trinidad. Although a Hindu festival, it is national holiday observed by
people of all religions. The entire island is lit by candlelight  during the festival, and prayers are offered. Of course it wouldn't be Trinidad if there wasn't an ongoing party also.
*Every year the town of Ponce, Puerto Rico, stages an annual Carnival with parades, parties and church services. Carnival features devil dancers in red, yellow, blue papier-maché masks, who whack onlookers with inflated cow's bladders! Leading the parade is King Momo, the spirit of Carnival, who dances behind his huge mask.
*Junkanoo Carnival Party
Nassau, Bahamas
The party celebration in the month of December. You can't resist the beat of the goat drum as the drummers call out for Junkanoo to begin.
*Barbados,  St. Lucia and
Puerto Rico have some of
the best attended Jazz
Festivals in the Caribbean. 
All three island festivals host
top name entertainment and
numerous events around the
islands.
*Think you know how to
Merengue?  Oh no, you don't know Merengue until you've made it to the Dominican Merengue Festival. Non-stop week long music and festivities. Many of the best parties are right in the streets. This festival attracts only the top name Merengue Bands.
*Grenada, the Spice Island, gets all the celebrating done for the year in 3 weeks. From July through August the island celebrates the Regatta, City Festival, and Carnival.
*Head to Guadeloupe in August for Guadeloupe's Festival of Women Cooks. All the women try to out due each other with their recipes, and are pleased for  you to taste their cooking. Many excellent cooks on Guadeloupe, eat your way across the island.
Planning a vacation in conjunction with Caribbean Island Festivals or Carnivals is an opportunity to experience cultural aspects of the island, and have an enjoyable time. TBA = To Be Announced by Organizers
Travel 2 the Caribbean logo banner. The bright sun represents the sunny Caribbean.
*Ocho Rios, Jamaica - Caribbean Music Expo is a popular Trade Show for those who love Caribbean Music. Many exhibitors and artists. Beach parties during and after the event
Description of  Popular Festivals
Listing by Month
Jamaican Musician plays drum before the Raggae Sumfest in Montego Bay. Raggae Sumfest is the Reggae event of the summer. Visitors travel from other Caribbean islands, the US, Canada, England and Europe. You can party and dance from July 20 straight to the 26th of July.
Music Festival Singer performs at Jamaica Caribbean Music Expo in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. There are many exhibitors, artists and beach parties during and after the Music Expo.
The St Lucia Jazz festival is one of the more popular music festivals in the Caribbean with top notch musicians from all over the world. Most of the visitors come from the US and Canada. The only other two jazz festivals that are as well attended are Puerto Rico Jazz Festival and the Barbados Jazz Festival. Air Jamaica and BET are the two main sponsors of the caribbean jazz festival.
Trinidad is the Caribbean island where Carnival was invented
Although a Hindu Festival, Trinidad's Festival of Lights is a national holiday observed by people of all religions. The entire island is lit by candlelight, and prayers are offered. The Festival of Lights, or Divali, is one of the most anticipated events on the island of Trinidad. The festival is an annual events and starts on October 25th of each year.
Jazz Sax Player performs during Barbados Jazz Festival. Barbados has one of the best attended jazz festivals along with St Lucia and Puerto Rico. Each year top name entertainment flocks to the island for the week long festivities. Top name performers such as Alicia Keys are always in attendance, and the 2005 festival was a tremendous success.
Curacao dancer displays colorful dress during the Curacao Jazz Festival held in may of every year. Curacao is home to the most diverse population in the Caribbean, and therefore has a diverse array of music and entertainment.
Merengue dancers take to the street of Santo Domingo during the Dominican Merengue Festival. The festival is a week long celebration, and the best parties are right in the streets. Top name Merengue Bands appear.
Jazz festival performer at Bermuda Jazz Festival, held at Navy Dockyard every year during October.
*Each year in September,
hundreds of divers head to the Cayman Islands for almost seven weeks of diving centered around the annual festival.  Grand Cayman is the picture perfect Caribbean resort, with pleasant daytime temperatures, white sandy beaches and clear, blue-green sea perfect for diving or snorkeling.
Dominica Diving Festival
July 11-19, 2008
Cayman Islands Diving Festival attracts divers from around the world. The annual dive festival lasts for seven weeks and starts every year in September.
All e-mail inquiries answered promptly

L. Thompkins,
Caribbean Specialist

Travel 2 the Caribbean
email me
Festival and Carnival dates can change
from year to year due to a number of circumstances

E-mail for more information on any Caribbean island festival or carnival
Aruba Caribbean Carnival
Jan 2 - Feb 4, 2008
Do You Know
of any Caribbean Festivals or
Caribbean Carnivals not
listed here?

Please e-mail,
and we will gladly post it here.
There's nothing quite like the Caribbean !
Havana Int'l  Jazz Festival
Cuba - Dec 7 - Jan 8
*Havana's Jazz Festival is an internationally renowned event
that takes place every two years. Festival consistently attracts an excellent line-up, with gigs at many venues around the city.
*Once the Trinidad Parang
Season is launched, you know  that Christmas is just around the corner.

In Trinidad Christmas is a time to celebrate and Parang is the ultimate music of celebration.
Parang Season Festival
Trinidad
Nov 2008- Jan 2009
International Guitar Festival
Martinique  - Dec 08 TBA
Festival of Lights,Trinidad - Young girls preparing for celebration
Performer at Bermuda Jazz
Festival
Diver explores reefs - Cayman Dive Festival
St Lucia Jazz Festival - May
Curacao Jazz Festival Parade
Reggae Sumfest
Drummer
Barbados Jazz
Festival - Jan
Merengue Festival  Dancers
Caribbean
Music Expo
Trinidad Carnival
Heineken Aruba Catamaran Regatta  - Nov 13-21,2008
Nine Mornings Festival
St. Vincent & the Grenadines
Dec  2008 - TBA
New Year Sailing Regatta
Bahamas  - Jan 2008
Foxy Wooden Boat Regatta
B.V.I. May 1-31, 2008
Tour des Yoles Rondes
Martinique - Aug  TBA
Billfish Tournament Puerto Rico - Aug 13-27, 2008
Aruba Soul Beach Music Festival - May 21-26, 2008
British Virgin Island Musicfest - Tortola
May 23-26, 2008
Cayman Islands Int'l
Rugby Sevens
Jun  2008 - TBA
*The Cayman Islands'
International Rugby Sevens competition attracts teams from around the world to watch first-class Caribbean Sevens
Fisherman's Birthday Celebration
Grenada - Jun 29, 2008
Columbus Annual Regatta
Jamaica - Oct  TBA
World Rugby Classic
Bermuda - Nov 9-15, 2008
Falmouth Blue Marlin Tournament -
Falmouth Jamaica 
Sept - Oct 2008 TBA
*The Blue Marlin is one of
Jamaica's favorite fish.
Fisherman take great pride
reeling in these magnificient
fish in the Blue Marlin
Tournament  held every
September.
*New Years Sailing Regatta starts off  the coast of Nassau's Montagu Bay.  Between 30 and 40 ships compete in three classes. The event is a  spectacle for visitors,  and is  followed with great enthusiasm by the residents.
Batabano Carnival - Caymans
Apr 26 - May 3, 2008
St Lucia Marguerite Festival
Oct  2008 - TBA
Santa Rosa Festival
Trinidad and Tobago -
Aug  2008 - TBA
The Rose Festival
St Lucia - Aug 2008 - TBA
Market Vendors Feast
St Lucia  - Aug, 2008 TBA
Grenada's August Carnival is unique with the Shakespeare Mas, in which brightly dressed Peirrots engage in a battle of wits using only lines from Shakespearean plays.

Carnival in Carriacou climaxes with two days of street parades and various competitions among calypsonians and masquerade bands.
Foxy's Wooden Boat Regatta, held annually on the smallisland of Jost Van Dyke, is one of the biggest eventsin the British Virgin Islands. It is a competitionthat allows wooden boats to rule the waves in an agewhere fibreglass and speed dominates.
British Virgin Island Regatta
*Christmas Festival on
Montserrat celebrates the
birth of Jesus, and carnival merrymaking and a general atmosphere of goodwill.
Families abroad reunite
with loved ones at home to
enjoy the festivities, which
generally begin around mid-December and continues
into the New Year
Montserrat Christmas Festival
Dec 25,26,27 & 31, 2008
Jamaican Jerk/Southern
BBQ Cook-Off   - Sept
2008 dates TBA
*International Jamaican Jerk
and Southern Barbecue
Cook-Off is an annual Caribbean cooking competition attracting thousands of barbecue experts from Jamaica and around the world.  Many cooks from the
U.S. attend this event every year.
*The First European settlers in Montserrat were Irish, so St. Patrick's Day is celebrated for
St. Patrick, patron saint of
Ireland. March 17 is also the
day on which the island’s slaves staged a revolt and marched on Government  House. Calypso, soca, iron band music along with masquerades, and wearing green and the shamrock as an emblem.
San Sebastian Street Festival
San Juan - Jan 18-21, 2008
Ocho Rios Jazz Festival
June  15-18, 2008
Turks & Caicos Music  Festival
Jul - Aug, 2008 TBA
Aruba Music Festival
Oct  2008 - TBA
Caribbean Music Expo
Ocho Rios -
Sept - Oct, 2008 TBA
Pineapple Festival
Eleuthera, Bahamas
June 7, 2008
Eleuthera, Bahamas
Pineapple Festival
The St Lucia Jazz Festival is the crown jewel of BET Jazz produced caribbean festivals with an expansive ten days of programming at various island venues including Pigeon Island national park. The park is a lovely, rolling acres of green grass overlooking the beautiful Caribbean Sea.
St Lucia Jazz Festival Crowd. Smooth jazz overlooking the sea.
Haile Selassie Anniversary Crowning - Nov 2, 2008 (International) Jamaica
The date of the coronation of Haile Selassie I, former Emperor of Ethiopia and central figure of the Rastafarian faith, is celebrated by Rastafarians throughout the world as one of the most sacred days of their calendar. Most Rastas in the Caribbean are on the island of Jamaica.
Haile Selassie Anniversary Crowning most sacred day for Rastafarians worldwide - Nov
Barbados Holders Festival
Feb 23 - Mar 15, 2008
Run Barbados
Dec  1 - Dec 3, 2008
Cayman Brac Family Week
July  2008 - TBA
Caymans Pirates Week
Nov 2008 - TBA
Breadfruit Festival - Jamaica
Aug 2008 - TBA
*Crop Over, a five-week summer festival, is Barbados' most popular and colourful carnival festival. It's origins can be traced back to a time when Barbados was the world's largest producer of sugar.
At the end of the sugar season, there was always a huge
celebration to mark the end of another successful sugar cane harvest - the Crop Over
celebration.
*Nine Mornings Festival - Christmas celebrations begin early in St Vincent. From 16 December people get up in the early hours and parade through the streets of Kingstown in seasonal attire.
Christmas celebrations in The Bahamas would not be complete without Junkanoo bands "rushing" in the streets. Venture down to Bay Street in Nassau during the early morning hours of Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) and New Year's Day and behold this cornucopia of color and sound. The darkness of the early morning adds to the bewitching atmosphere. Overhead streetlights highlight the hues of the costumes and banners intricately designed and patterned from minute strips of crepe paper of all colors glued to clothing, cardboard and wood.
Junkanoo Festival in the Bahamas. The parade is held twice - once on Dec 26th and again on Jan 1st
The Cayman Pirates Festival officially begins on a Friday, but there is a traditional Thursday "Kick Off" party at the Royal Palms site on Seven Mile Beach from 9pm to 2 am. Live bands, giveaways, plenty to eat and drink, and free admission.
Cayman Pirates Week Kickoff party on seven mile beach.
Breadfruits are a staple food in many Caribbean and tropical islands. They are very rich in starch, and before being eaten they are roasted, baked, fried or boiled. The taste is described as potato-like. The Jamaica Breadfruit festival is the only festival in the Caribbean that celebrates the breadfruit.
Jamaica Breadfruit Festival - Aug
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St Thomas Carnival
April 6-26, 2008
Caribbean Festivals and Caribbean Carnivals  are an expression of each island's culture and ethnic background. Music, Dance, Colorful Costumes, Parades, and Island Cuisine are all on display during these events.
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Puerto Rican Music Festival
Nov , 2008 - TBA
Anguilla Tranquility Jazz Fest
Nov 2008 TBA
National Wari Festival
Antigua/Barbuda
Oct 2007 - TBA
Dance Festival - All Month Sept
St Vincent & The Grenadines
Jost Van Dyke Festival, BVI
Sept  2008 - TBA
The tiny island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas celebrates a Pineapple Festival in June of every year. The pineapple is an important export product for Eleuthera, and one of the most popular festivals on the island. The festival has parades, lots of food and vendor booths, along with the favorite fruit of the day - the pineapple.
Barbados claims to have the world's greatest street party and world's longest Congaline. During the April celebration, thousands of dancers form a huge congaline across the island. Take comfortable shoes, cause you'll have miles to "Conga".
Africa Jamfest Music Festival
Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Oct  2008 - TBA
World Golf - World Cup
Barbados - Dec  2008
*Aruba's Catamaran Regatta
in November has become a highlight of the year, as champions and new sailors alike converge on the little island for a week of sailing. Touting itself as one of the best catamaran events in the world, there is no doubt that the conditions off the island, with its temperate winds, are ideal for the vessels.
Nevis Culturama
Jul - Aug, 2008 TBA
Moonsplash Music Festival
Anguilla - Mar  28-30, 2008
Dominica Carnival
Feb 4-6, 2008
On the island of Montserrat, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated for St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland. March 17 is also the day on which the island’s slaves staged a revolt and marched on Government House. Calypso, soca, iron band music along with masquerades, and wearing green and the shamrock as an emblem.
Montserrat St Patrick Day Festival
Guadeloupe's Festival of Women Cooks. All the women try to out due each other with their recipes, and are pleased for you to taste their cooking. Many excellent cooks on Guadeloupe, eat your way across the island.
Festival of Women Cooks - Guadeloupe
Jamerican Film and Music Festival - Jamaica
Nov 2008 - TBA
Turks and Caicos Conch Festival - Nov 23-25, 2008
Grenada Round-the-Island Easter Regatta
Mar 20-23, 2008
Grenada's Round the Island Easter Regatta is the event for sailing enthusiasts. The land-based activities include parades, music and lots of local food offerings.
Barbados Gospel Festival
May 19-26, 2008
Barbados Celtic Festival
May 2008 TBA
St John USVI Carnival
July 24-27, 2008
St Lucia Food/Rum Festival
Nov 2008 TBA
Grenada Carnival
Aug 11 - 12, 2008
Port Royal Music Fest - Jamaica - Aug 2008 - TBA
Old Harbour Fish & Bammy Festival - Jamaica - Oct TBA
Aruba St Nicholas Day
Dec 6, 2008
National Day St Lucia
Dec 13, 2008
International Caribbean Guitar Festival in
Martinique 
New Years Sailing Regatta
Nassau - Jan, 2009
St Lucia Creole Day
Oct  2008 - TBA
Dominica World Creole Music Festival is one of most prominent festivals in the Caribbean. The tiny island gets plenty crowded hosting Creole singers, dancers, and visitors from around the world.
Dominica World Creole Music Festival - Nov
Every two years, Martinique'hosts an international guitar festival, attracting musicians and spectators from all over the world
Marguerite Festival
St Lucia Oct 2008 TBA
Tobago Festival
Sept - Oct 08 TBA
Slave Uprising Day
Curacao Aug 17, 2008
Cudjoe Head Celebration
Montserrat  Aug 2-3, 2008
Curacao Day
July 26, 2008
Montserrat St Patrick's Celebration -
March 10-18, 2008
Antigua Sailing Week<