Goombay festivals in the Bahamas kick off the summer season by celebrating Bahamian music, food and culture. This year, Little Bahamas’ Goombay Festival returned to Coconut Grove from June 6 to 8 for a celebration that drew big crowds and festive music to Grand Avenue.
The yearly event continues to put the Little Bahamas neighborhood on the map, a designation championed by Congresswoman Frederica Wilson (D-Miami) in 2022 that acknowledges the foundation Bahamian settlers built in Miami and the community that exists there today.
The Junkanoo jump-off at Miami Dade College Gibson Center kicked off the celebration Friday night. Then, on Saturday and Sunday, festivalgoers headed to Grand Avenue — showing up even earlier to the party than they usually do.
The Junkanoo band featured dancers of all ages in bright neon costumes, the youngest leading the parade.
This year, Grand Avenue was filled by 1 p.m., says vonCarol Kinchens-Williams, planning committee chair.
“Normally, people come out a little later, but this morning they came out a little early. The excitement … it’s growing,” she told The Miami Times.
The streets were lined with food trucks and tables for local organizations. “My highlight was getting out here early, 4:30 in the morning, just seeing the setup,” Kinchens-Williams said.
Halfway down the road sat a DJ booth with neighbors sitting among towering speakers. At each end stood a stage with another DJ holding it down until the lineup of performers appeared, which included Keke Wyatt, Ira Stoor & the Spank Band, Ball Greezy and many more. The Junkanoo band traveled the entire strip from Douglas Road to Elizabeth Street four times a day, gathering attention with children on stilts and skilled horn players in bright traditional outfits.
Several band members paraded on stilts that towered above the nearby food trucks.
Those who like conch can have every variation of it at Goombay Festival. Conch sellers even lined the side streets not part of the official gathering. Salads, conch fritters and Fruity Dressed Conch, a sweeter variation of the Bahamian classic, were all available. It was a concentration of the many Bahamian restaurants that specialize in the dish, plus general Caribbean and barbecue spots for everyone’s taste.
Vendors varied from food services to T-shirt sellers, to general apparel shops with hats, bandanas and fans.
“I haven’t been here in two or three years, so to be here today, it’s just a blessing,” said festivalgoer Seven Smith. Her family is from the Bahamas, and she also showed up in support of a Bahamian member of the Church of Christ that she attends. “It’s different, more vendors, it looks more organized, it’s really nice.“
“We’re selling conch,” she said, but unofficially, near the food trucks.
Samone Brown had a cooler of her own food from her business Euphoric Desserts. “My favorite part would be the celebration of the food. Bahamian food is really good, and I love a good conch fritter,” she said.
Instruments included trumpet, tuba, whistles, drums and cowbells.
Those who have been attending since its early days know that the Goombay Festival has changed locations a couple of times. It only returned to Grand Avenue at the 50th anniversary of the Bahamas as an independent commonwealth in 2023. Prior to that, but after a six- to seven-year hiatus, festivalgoers were found at Elizabeth Virrick Park in 2022.
The festival committee was consistently successful at bringing the community together, no matter the location. This year, they saw so much growth that they had to turn some potential vendors and participants away.
“I’m getting calls and emails from people [saying] please let me know about next year,” said Kinchens-Williams.
Seven Smith and Samone Brown roll their coolers up and down Grand Avenue with conch salad and sweet desserts.
Before the hiatus, Goombay Festival took up a few more streets. The hope is to return to that size.
“Back in the day, it went from 37th Avenue all the way to 32nd Avenue,” said Kinchens-Williams. “We’ll get back there sooner than later.”
One big contributor to the growth of the Goombay Festival is the FIU Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab. FIU partners created the main website for Little Bahamas and the festival, and provided a student intern to help people get involved and work on logistics for the weekend.
The Goombay Festival drew large crowds to the Little Bahamas neighborhood from June 6-8, 2025.
“FIU has been a tremendous help to us. We have two FIU workers that are on our committee,” Kinchens-Williams said.
Together, committee members work to get Little Bahamas the recognition they believe it deserves. Beyond the Goombay Festival, the committee is planning events like a jazz concert and a sweetheart gala.
Festival queen Veronica Swindell Wesley and festival king Sylvester "Chico the Virgo" Wesley pose with planning committee chair vonCarol Kinchens-Williams at a rest area on Grand Avenue.
Bahamians in Coconut Grove are regularly acknowledged in programs about Miami’s Black history, so to shine a light on the families with a legacy in the area, the Goombay Festival crowned a local queen and king: Veronica Swindell Wesley and her husband Sylvester “Chico the Virgo” Wesley. Veronica Swindell Wesley grew up in Coconut Grove, attended the nearby Carver Elementary school, Carver Middle School and Coral Gables Senior High School, and then returned to become principal of Carver Elementary for eight years.
“I started my early years running the streets of Grand Avenue and attending the very first Goombay Festival. It’s just me coming home to my native roots,” she said.
She says the festival can only get better from here. “It’s back, it’s wonderful. The park was great last night when we opened with the parade.”
Festivalgoers sit in lawn chairs near the DJ booth.
As a radio personality for 53 years and a community leader in the Miami-Dade and Broward counties, Veronica’s husband Sylvester Wesley said he is honored and humbled to participate. He says there is much more to learn beyond the band’s parade and food.
For non-Bahamians like him, Sylvester said, “They should come to this celebration and begin to learn and understand the true Bahamian roots that have been left in Coconut Grove. This festival should be much bigger than it is.”
Bahamian immigrants played an instrumental role in building Miami, as is often recognized by the historic shotgun homes from Coconut Grove’s early days, but there is more to the story that the Little Bahamas designation highlights.
Veronica added, “I think outsiders should know, without Coconut Grove, a lot of other little pockets of Miami may not exist.”
