Food, music and culture lovers got more ‘feast’ than ‘taste’ at this weekend’s two-day extravaganza that is the Taste of Cayman. Festival-goers flooded Camana Bay’s Festival Green Friday evening for the kickoff, cheering as the headlining Black Eyed Peas played for the first time in the Cayman Islands.
Following an energetic performance enjoyed by a passionate, multigenerational crowd, the group said it wouldn’t be their last.
Local performers, including Dan Ebanks, The Neverines and DJ RKM, got the good vibes going on Friday. Audience members were treated to original songs by Ebanks, and the rock-indie band had viewers across the general, premium and VIP sections singing along to throwbacks like ‘Mr. Brightside’.
The countdown began while DJ RKM helped audience members find love in a hopeless place.
Amid a swirl of smoke and purple lights, Will.i.am, Apl.de.ap and Taboo stepped out to centre stage with their world-renowned song ‘Boom Boom Pow.’ Joining them shortly afterward was J. Rey Soul.
The group pulled from its extensive repertoire, and the crowd certainly embraced the song title when it came to ‘Scream and Shout.’
The six-time Grammy winning group took advantage of the intimate venue to occasionally slow the show down, wishing a happy birthday to guitarist George Pajon Jr. and bringing the lights low for an audience flashlight spectacle to ‘Where Is the Love?’
Will.i.am called for a brief moment of silence from the thousands of people filling the festival grounds, but then with a grin, the group launched into the fan favourite “I Gotta Feeling” to round out the evening.
Foodie paradise
While performers continued to delight audience members on Saturday, the big focus was the food.
Gates opened at 5pm, with activities for family members of all ages.
In the All Things Cayman pavilion, community members enjoyed cheering on their selections in sojah crab races, seeing how thatch is traditionally plaited, and sampling the entries in competitions for the best heavy cake and Cayman-style beef.
Respectively taking first, second and third place in the savoury category were James Ebanks; Mia Schvartz and Phenicia Fraser; and Anola Smith. For dessert, the winners were Elizabeth Larsen; Phenicia Fraser and Anola Smith and Jodiann Jackson; and Sheron Campbell.
Some contestants favoured more traditional techniques when it came to preparing their cassava cakes, while others used more modern methods.
Campbell, who took one of the top prizes in only her second year of competing, said regardless of the method, what matters most is including love in the baking.
“I’m old school, and she’s new school, so we do a mixture of both,” she said of her baking partner Yanique Arthurs.
Surrounding the grounds, restaurants offered foods, beverages and sweets from around the world and right in Cayman.
At its booth, Caybrew debuted its newest brew, a hoppy West Coast IPA, that it started canning last week.
The fun continued at the demo stage, which concluded with a gin mixology competition won by Matt Majid from The Backroom Bar.
Of course, the festival couldn’t come to a close without more music.
The Swanky Kitchen Band took to the main stage in the evening with its iconic toe-tapping kitchen dance and an announcement that it would be hitting the road to perform abroad this year.
Rounding out the celebration were DJ Urusai and Billy Corduroy, Rico Rolando, and DJ Mat Banx and Laser Show. With their performances and some final fireworks, Taste of Cayman 2024 officially came to a close.
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