In picture-perfect weather, thousands of Vincentians across the United States on Saturday converged on the Camp Grounds at Heckscher State Park in East Islip, Long Is. for the 11th Annual Vincy Day USA Picnic.
Other Caribbean nationals even joined Vincentians, trekking from as far as Canada, among other places, to participate in and to meet and greet relatives and friends at the 1,657-acre (6.71 km2) state park on the shore of the Great South Bay in Suffolk County, Long Is.
The day-long, spectacular event, organized by the Brooklyn-based Vincy Day USA Committee, featured a kaleidoscope of colors – including the Vincentian national colors, green, gold (yellow) and blue – a potpourri of Vincy dishes; and Vincentian and Caribbean music, gospel and soca inclusive.
Among others, Brooklynite Alyssa Seales played the steelpan; masqueraders from Mas Productions Unlimited, the lone Vincy mas band in New York, displayed costumes for the gigantic West Indian-American Day Labor Day Parade on Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway; and calypsonians Delahante Isles and Dennis Bowman – representing the Brooklyn-based, Vincentian-owned Dynamite Calypso Tent, the lone Vincentian Calypso Tent in North America – re-energized the crowd with hits from this year’s selection in the Vincy Mas Calypso Competition.
The newly-formed, Brooklyn-based Magma Band, headed by Vincentian musical arranger and keyboardist Adrian Bailey, made its Picnic debut, backing up most of the soca artistes and otherwise providing enthralling entertainment to the huge party crowd.
Delroy “Fireman” Hooper, the perennial Vincentian Soca Monarch and this year’s Road March King in Vincy Mas, also made his maiden Picnic performance, holding party animals in a frenzy with selections from his wide repertoire, bringing the Day down at the sprawling park.
In the Soca Monarch Competition in Vincy Mas 2023, Hooper was crowned Soca Monarch for the 12th time.
Hooper, who first won the national Soca Monarch title in 1999, won the crown 12 times from 23 attempts, according to the national radio station, NBC SVG.
“This year, 2023, nearly two decades since he began the mad sensation, he brought more ‘Madness’ to win his 12th Soca Monarch crown,” NBC SVG said.
“I love Vincy people,” Hooper told Caribbean Life in an immediate post-party interview on Saturday. “I personally respect Vincy people. So, I’ll do anything for Vincy people.
“I’ve been hearing about it [Picnic], and I’m seeing it [and participating in it] for the first time,” he added. “It’s our own event.”
During his inaugural participation last year, new Consul General Rondy “Luta” McIntosh had expressed concern about the non-participation, in the Picnic, of the Soca Monarch in Vincy Mas, vowing to change that in ensuing years.
McIntosh, himself a soca artiste – who rendered “Family, We Out Here” and “Charlie, Charlie” [partially] – described the extravaganza as “a spectacle of colors and culture, and a true depiction of who we are as a people.
“It’s love and unity at the Vincy Picnic,” he told Caribbean Life, as the spectacle wound down. “It’s beyond measure. And words cannot express the overwhelming feeling of being amongst your own people and experiencing love and unity, like we do at Carnival time in Vincyland.
“My hope is that this love and unity transcend our community and everyday life,” McIntosh continued.
Charles Thompson, a New York City Transit employee and Adjunct Professor at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), brought along his friend Viola Samuel, visiting from Toronto, Canada, and his brother, Leonard Thompson, who resides in Palm Beach, Fl.
“It’s about the preparation,” said Charles, who lives in the Cypress Hills section of Brooklyn.
“It’s nice to see Vincentians coming together,” he added, while serving his compatriots, among other dishes, coconut dumpling, banana, yam, dasheen and saltfish that he had begun preparing the night before.
“It’s a beautiful thing to see Vincentians coming together,” Charles stressed. “This is a good example of how to live with each other. Vincy nice, Vincy nice!”
Leonard, a US Navy veteran, chimed in: “It’s like home [Picnic], seeing family – my brother. It’s about family.”
Crispin Friday – the newly-elected president of the Brooklyn-based Council of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Organizations, U.S.A., Inc. (COSAGO), the umbrella Vincentian group in the United States – brought along his wife, Ancilla, and their two daughters and granddaughter.
“It’s an elaborate gathering of Vincentians,” said Friday, flanked by his family, friends and some executive members of COSAGO. “You can see the mixing of various groups and families, and the intermingling of Vincentians.
“This shows the love and appreciation for our nation, St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” he added.
After serving pelau, a Vincentian special dish of rice, stewed brown with meat, mainly chicken, Sandra Millington, president of Club St. Vincent, a major cultural and educational group in Brooklyn, said the Picnic has “improved greatly after COVID.
“We have to maintain our culture,” she said. “We have to keep the young people focused and involved.”
Later, Raymond Otis Lewis, chairman of the Vincy Day USA Committee, said: “Vincy Day 2023 is in the history books.
“This year was not without its challenges, from overall increase in expenditure, to curating a decent and respectable entertainment segment,” he said, adding that “the turnout this year was a little better than last year, being two years removed from COVID.
“And even though it’s not at the levels pre-COVID, patrons were remarking that it was the best one they’ve been to,” continued Lewis. “The Vincy Day Committee strives tirelessly to ensure that Vincy Day USA is a day filled with the love, camaraderie, respect and generosity that embodies the Vincentian spirit, and this year is no different.
“So, to all the patrons that came out on Saturday, a heartfelt thank you,” he said. “To our sponsors and well-wishers who generously gave of themselves, thank you. To all the artists that performed, the gospel acts, the calysonians, the masqueraders and soca artists, and those who contributed in any shape or form, we say a very big thank you. We couldn’t do this without you!”
