Miami Gardens Soul + Caribbean Food Festival makes its debut
The spirit of wellness, unity, and empowerment came alive today as the Miami Gardens Soul + Caribbean Food Festival debuted at the Betty T. Ferguson Amphitheater this weekend.
The inaugural event welcomed over 2,000 attendees and featured a vibrant mix of music, wellness activities, shopping, and delicious food — all aimed at nurturing the mind, body, and soul.
With more than 50 local vendors on site, the festival provided a platform for holistic professionals to share their knowledge and products while highlighting the cultural richness of the community.
The event was sponsored by Miami Gardens City Council Vice Mayor Robert Stephens III, who partnered with The Hungry Black Man and the Center for Black Innovation.
"It's very important that we have this event in our community to showcase our local talent, our local vendors," said one participant.
"You don't have to drive to South Beach — sometimes homegrown talent is here," added Chef Kriss Kofi, Founder of Dub N Grub.
Family-owned businesses were at the heart of the celebration. From healthy eats to handcrafted items, attendees were treated to a marketplace rooted in community and care.
"My favorite part is we're supporting local businesses," shared another vendor. "We're family — we're from Sunshine Meat Market — and there's other families here with their local business."
The festival hosted food competitions, giving local culinary artists a chance to shine. Winners walked away with a $500 prize.
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The 'Frankenstein' that roared to life in D.C. this past weekend marks a triumphant U.S. directorial debut for London-based theater savant Emily Burns, who'd already earned a measure of local attention for adapting the script for the 'Macbeth' that brought Ralph Fiennes to Shakespeare Theatre Company last spring. As in that intriguing but uneven exercise, Burns has chucked a night-dark classic and a brisk contemporary vibe into her authorial Cuisinart. But this time, with the writer-director not just remixing the story but shepherding the whole shebang, the resulting world premiere is a blistering success — unabashedly intelligent, sumptuously visualized, taut as an assassin's garrote. It's jump-scary psychodrama with a literary pedigree, served up in sleek prestige-TV style. If there's any theatrical justice it'll end up making piles of money on Broadway and the West End. 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