HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The Caribbean Association of North Alabama came back with their "Caribbean Day at the Park" after taking two years off since the pandemic.
This event brings cultures of the Caribbean together with food, music, dance and more.
Alyssa and Ashley both attended the event today and have a personal connection to the culture.
"I'm here for my family because they're from Haiti," said Alyssa.
"I'm here for my family because they're from Guyana," said Ashley.
Emmauel Pierre, a member of CANA said, "Caribbean Day in the Park is an event that is looked forward to by all nations of the community. And that feeds again into our motto "many cultures one people". So what we do is we share the Caribbean heritage with people and a lot of people find out, ``Oh, wow, I got Caribbean in me."
Dane Clarke, the President of CANA, said, "When it comes to this event. You forget about work. You forget about a lot of stuff. We're all just here to enjoy ourselves as one people."
CANA is a non-profit organization that works to connect people from every community through food, flags, music and dance.
This event is put on almost annually and according to Pierre, the Caribbean community in Huntsville is diverse.
"Huntsville covers the whole Caribbean diaspora. I mean, from Spain, French speaking, Spanish speaking, Portuguese speaking, English speaking, Caribbean. I mean, you name it. Huntsville has it. And Huntsville encapsulates what it means to be Caribbean," said Pierre.
Several vendors attended the festival from a Caribbean shipping company to Jerk Chicken stands, and there were some pretty long lines.
But ultimately, Clarke said those being introduced to this community, "get to see our culture, how we live, and basically understand the kind of people we are, the music that you don't get to hear every day."