Bay Area
11 Local Restaurants Host a Caribbean Heritage Month Celebration at Oakland’s Brookdale Park on June 29
This year, Goodridge and Merissa Lyons, is expanding the event to include 11 more Caribbean restaurants in Oakland. The restaurants included are: AlaMar Dominican Kitchen, Calabash Oakland, Cocobreeze Caribbean Restaurant, Jamaica Sweet Spices, La Perla (Puerto Rican cuisine), Level 13 Oakland, Minto’s Jamaican Restaurant, Mystical Mixes Oakland, Sobre Mesa, Sweet Fingers Jamaican Restaurant, and T’chaka Haitian Cuisine.
By Daisha Williams
June is known for a lot of things: weddings, graduations, LGBTQ Pride Month, Black Music Month, and, of course, Juneteenth.
But since 2006, June is also Caribbean History Month. It was nationally recognized in the United States after the House of Representatives adopted H. Con. Res. 71, sponsored by Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
It is a time of celebration, culture, and family for Caribbean people and their descendants. The recognition honors the significance of Caribbean people and their descendants in the history and culture of the United States.
On June 29, several restaurants will hold a free Caribbean Heritage Month event at Brookdale Park at Brookdale Avenue and High Streets in East Oakland from 12 -8 p.m.
As characterized by Annabelle Goodridge, owner of Cocobreeze, a Caribbean restaurant a few blocks away at 2370 High Street, the annual event is a way of giving back to the community that has allowed them to prosper.
This year, however, Goodridge and Merissa Lyons, is expanding the event to include 11 more Caribbean restaurants in Oakland. The restaurants included are: AlaMar Dominican Kitchen, Calabash Oakland, Cocobreeze Caribbean Restaurant, Jamaica Sweet Spices, La Perla (Puerto Rican cuisine), Level 13 Oakland, Minto’s Jamaican Restaurant, Mystical Mixes Oakland, Sobre Mesa, Sweet Fingers Jamaican Restaurant, and T’chaka Haitian Cuisine.
Along with food there will be live performances, and an award ceremony. Everything at the event is free, including all the delicious food being offered.
From the Visit Oakland website: “Bring a flag to represent your country! DJ’s representing the Caribbean diaspora will be spinning all your favorite Soca, Dancehall, Reggae, Latin and Afrobeat hits. Games and fun for the entire family! Bring blankets and chairs for the park.”
When talking about goals for this event Lyons, Goodridge’s daughter, said that they’re hoping to “shine a light on the beautiful diversity of the Bay Area, to create awareness of a variety of cultural dishes, highlight the fun of trying new things, bring family-friendly fun to Oakland and educate the community about Caribbean culture and offer support to local restaurants.”
Ahead of the event, Cocobreeze and the other restaurants created a ‘bucket list’ contest including foods from all the participating restaurants. Attendees have the option of completing the ‘bucket list’ by visiting each of the restaurants before the event. Winners for the bucket list activity will be announced on Saturday. The prize is a $20 gift card for each of the restaurants included in the event.
Cocobreeze also cultivates community in ways outside of this event. One is through their youth apprentice program which shows high schoolers the ways of the industry and the foods of their culture. They are currently working on expanding this program so that it is available for young adults as well as teenagers.
