THE sound stage is set, the food stalls are filling the air with fragrant West Indian spices, and a line-up of famous calypso and soca artistes are preceded by the appearance of Caribbean beauties: welcome to the Angostura FIU Fete in Miami!

The fete, which is now in its 5th year, brings together West Indians from all over the US, Canada and the Caribbean to a day full of fun and dancing, a.k.a. “jump-up” for Carnival aficionadoes.

FRANK DILLON

Set on the campus of the Florida International University (FIU), the fete starts off with culinary delights and Angostura cocktails prepared by the culinary students from the university, giving them the experience that they need.

It continues into a night of quality entertainment with famous DJs and artistes from all over the Caribbean -- from David Rudder to Bunji Garlin (Trinidad) to “classics” like Byron Lee and the Dragonaires from Jamaica (being interviewed photo on the right).

And all this for a good cause: Angostura, in collaboration with FIU, established a scholarship fund to which all proceeds from the fete go.

Since the inception of the fete in 2001, over US$60,000 have been raised for this fund and several Caribbean students have benefitted.

Frank Dillon (photo above) has been doing a magnificent job in organising this popular bash for the past five years and patrons say that it gets “bigger and better” every year!