Caribbean Night in Old Ottawa South was great fun, and even though it started with a light rain, the skies cleared early and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the food, the music, and the community ambience at the Windsor Park tennis courts on June 11, 2011. Photos can be viewed here. For more of the story...
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For many, the evening started with a visit to the bar ticket table, seen here manned by volunteers Colin and Catherine Beattie, followed immediately by a visit to the bar for traditional Caribbean punch (with our without the rum) or Red Stripe beer to wash down what was to come, a true highlight of the evening: the food!
Havana Café and Catering served up absolutely delicious plates of pig roast, Jamaican patties, salad, fried plantains and the surprising treat fried yucca (ya gotta try 'em!) and the whole pig rotating on a tree-branch spit was something to see. (Check it out at the photo gallery.)
Convivial conversation commenced over the generous food plates while the bands—two very exciting but contrasting acts—set up their equipment and noshed some food themselves.
The rain subsided and the umbrellas came down as dusk arrived, and the first of the two bands drew in the crowd to their corner if the dance floor (read: tennis court).
The hot sounds of the well-known Cuban singer Caridad Cruz and her Trio got people grooving...
- Caridad Cruz - vocals, percussion
- César Ricardo - guitar
- Julián Zapata - keyboards
...While the popular Nepean Panharmonic Steel Band followed with a set of their unique, mellow Caribbean steel band sounds. (Click here to see a video of them performing at another venue.)
The bands alternated sets all night, and the convivial charm continued right through closing and cleaning up: a roster of volunteers—some of whom arrived specifically to be part of the cleanup crew—continued the goodtime feel until the dance floor was transformed once again into the spanking clean tennis courts in Windsor Park on the Rideau River in Old Ottawa South. Another "night to remember" for residents and friends...
Caribbean Night was an OSCA-sponsored fundraiser for the Friends of Lansdowne legal challenge. OSWatch volunteers were instrumental in making it happen.