This sizzling one-day festival has quickly become a premium item on the summer calendar of events in New York City, and its placement over a major holiday weekend will ensure a big participation from locals as well as out-of-towners in this celebration of the legendary and compelling Jamaican culture. In past years, the festival has attracted over 10,000 patrons. This year the festival is partnering with New York City’s newly crowned CBS radio market leader 92.3 NOW FM in order to bring new layers of demographic energies to the event.

“This year we have made great efforts to broaden the scope of the festival to make the offering culturally more full-bodied”, festival founder and promoter George Crooks commented. “The event is still anchored in excellent reggae music, but this year we’ve added pop and ska. Additionally we have expanded vending to include classic culinary temptations, arts & crafts souvenirs and colorful urban wear from scores of small merchants”, Crooks continued.

The festival comes as good news too for Caribbean American New Yorkers hungry for entertainment and who have seen a downturn in recent months in both the quality and quantity of ethnic entertainment in the New York tri-state region due to a litany of tribulations –from visa woes to artist incarcerations. The timing of the Brooklyn Music Festival is smart too, coming as it does at the startup point for the usually hectic summer concert season when reggae music lovers embrace the events of choice. Part of the proceeds from this year’s festival will be donated to the American Foundation of the University of the West Indies (AFUWI) scholarship fund.