Festival aims to reintroduce city to its Caribbean twin

It’s time for St. Catharines and Port of Spain to rekindle the flame, says Elizabeth Grimmond.

It’s been 51 years since the two cities were officially twinned and for a good part of that there were a lot of shared activities.

Early on, St. Catharines donated ambulances, wheelchairs and medical equipment to the Caribbean city. Police officers from Niagara went there to provide training.

Since 1968 six St. Catharines mayors have visited there, and the visits have been reciprocated. At one time, planes carrying upward of 100 passengers brought people back and forth for visits.

In recent years, though, “this thing has been sleeping for a while,” says Grimmond, president of the St. Catharines and Regional Niagara Twinning Association.

“We’ve decided we’ve got to get the whole city out to an event to let it know that you know what, this thing is alive and well and the relationship continues.”

So on Saturday at Burgoyne Woods Park, the first We Limin’ family day will be held — a chance to bring the community together for some Caribbean food and beverages, soccer and yoga, steel drum music and a kids’ corner.

“The thing about liming is, it’s just catching up on what’s going on in and around town,” says Grimmond.

“You sit and talk and have a drink and eat food, but liming also includes playing cards and dominoes. And we’re going to offer some cricket lessons, which is a typical Caribbean thing as well.”

Port of Spain, off the east coast of Venezuela, is the capital city of Trinidad and Tobago with a population of just under 40,000.

The idea of twinning with St. Catharines happened by chance, when Port of Spain residents Phil and Helen Atteck visited here in the late 1960s.

Grimmond said it started with the two realizing the radio station they were listening to was AM 610 — a station they listened to back home had the same name. Turned out, it was just CKTB they were hearing but it sparked the idea that led to the two municipalities twinning.

For more information on We Limin’ family day, visit Twinning.ca.

JULIE JOCSAK TORSTAR FILE PHOTO Louis Lee Sing, mayor of Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago, was the hit of the show back in 2013 when he took part in the mayor’s grape stomp at the Niagara Wine Festival.