On Saturday, March 1st, 2025, the Ministry of Tourism and One Eleuthera’s Center for Training and Innovation (OEF/CTI), came together to host the 6th Annual Food and Craft Festival, where local community members as well as visitors to the island came out to enjoy Bahamian food, locally made gifts and crafts, as well as live Bahamian music, and a signature aspect of Bahamian culture – the energy of junkanoo.
More than twenty two local entrepreneurs and businesses participated in the afternoon to evening event – showing off some of the best Eleuthera has to offer in high quality, authentic craft goods, including shell craft, jewelry of local materials, professional straw work designs, soaps and candles, novelties and more, with food vendors offering an array of local delicacies – like freshly roasted local corn, a sushi stall and a diverse tasting of traditional fare. Artisans and food vendors enjoyed a steady flow of customers throughout the afternoon and evening.
Crowds of local residents as well as visiting tourists, filtered through the thoughtfully laid out venue patronizing vendors along the way, with booths that wound around the backdrop of CTI’s pool deck, restaurant courtyard and spacious hotel grounds, next to ample parking. People from all over Eleuthera came out and enjoyed the family-friendly cultural celebration, which also had an area with toys and games, especially for the children. Junkanoo leader, Mr. Milton Johnson, throughout the afternoon, held demonstrations of junkanoo pasting, with an event called ‘sip an paste’, so people visiting the Fest could try their hand at pasting costumes, leading up to the evening’s junkanoo rushout.
As daylight transformed into Saturday’s early evening, the ‘Fire Goddess’ troupe wowed the swelling crowd, and a professional stage hosted the energetic talent of local entertainers, including the New Vision Band and Bahamian vocal and performing artists, Puzzle, and Nishie L.S. A vibrant and colourful junkanoo rushout by Tarpum Bay’s Karizma show group then got spectators into the cultural swing to climax the evening.
Office Manager at The Eleuthera Tourist Office in Governor’s Harbour, and a key organizer of the Food and Craft Festival, Mrs. Glenda Johnson-Ingraham, commenting on the event, said, “It was really successful; just wonderful, and we were quite pleased at the outcome.”
