Carnival is coming — from Jersey
New York area’s Caribbean carnival season is fast approaching, but the first festivities are in New Jersey — the Jersey City Statewide CaribbeanAmerican Carnival Weekend starting on Saturday.
The carnival weekend begins Saturday with the big parade through the city’s streets. After beginning at Lincoln Park at noon, the colorful, musical procession travels down Belmont Ave. to Kennedy Blvd. where it goes south to City Hall, 280 Grove St. and the parade reviewing stand.
The event is marking its 24th anniversary this year.
Day two of the weekend features the relaxing “Mas in the Park BBQ,” taking place next Sunday in Liberty State Park’s Freedom Way, starting at 10 a.m.
The “Family Barbecue Day” is a “Bring Your Own” affair and participants are asked to bring their “own chairs, tables, food and soft drinks.”
For information on the event and the organization, visit jccarnival.com or call (201) 332-5538.
Ray Choo Kong remembered
On the website of Trinidad’s J. E. Guide Funeral Home, the passing of Raymond Choo Kong is simple, considering the late director’s impact on the nation’s arts scene.
But his well-known contributions will be long respected.
The online obituary read that Kong was “an award-winning producer, director and actor who has been changing the landscape of Trinidad’s theater through comedy for the past 40 years.”
Kong, 69, was found stabbed to death on July 15 in his Arima, Trinidad, home, according to Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, which reported last week that the victim may have fought with attackers he may have known.
The National Drama Association announced that funeral services for Kong will be held on Wednesday at the Santa Rosa Roman Catholic Church in Arima.
City youth get into golf
Children — who may have a championship or just a pleasurable pasttime in their future — are getting skills and a passion for golf in the Brooklyn Golf Alliance’s PGA Jr. Summer League.
The program — called the “largest PGA Jr. Summer League in the nation” — is currently passing the skills and passion for the sport to more than 70 students from the Bergen Beach Youth Organization, during six weeks of golf lessons at Marine Park Golf Course in Brooklyn.
BGA executives say their goal is “bringing golf to underserved populations in our area.”
For information or to support the BGA’s efforts, visit brooklyngolfalliance.org or contact executive director Herb Rubenstein at herb@brooklyngolfalliance.org or (303) 910-7961; or reach out to founder Mike Weiss at m.a.weiss@verizon.net or (646) 7395391.
Scholarships for tourism
Secondary school teacher Philicia Walters from Nevis — who is pursuing a tourism management degree at Colorado State University — is the firstever recipient of the Bonita Morgan Memorial Scholarship.
“I am confident that with the aid of the Bonita Morgan Memorial Scholarship to finalize this aspect of my educational journey, I will be better empowered to assist in the development of tourism in Nevis and the Caribbean by extension,” Walters said, after the award wass presented last week.
She was chosen by the Caribbean Tourism Organization Scholarship Foundation for the award, which is named for the organization’s former head of human resources who passed away in April 2018.
The foundation granted five scholarships and five study grants this year.
Dancehall on mainstream TV
It was a coup for fans of Jamaican music when the “Kings and Queens of Dancehall” aired on Fox 5 TV last week, highlighting the vibrant music genre’s beginnings and its growth.
Produced by Fox 5 News in collaboration with STUDIO 5, the 30-minute feature, hosted by veteran journalist Lisa Evers, followed the reggae roots of the Jamaica music scene to dancehall eruption and its ever-expanding international popularity.
The New York-based PlaybookMG media relations firm was one of the essential players helping to pull together the “Kings and Queens” broadcast, which explored reggae and dancehall figures such as Vybz Kartel, Spice, Protoje and Beenie Man; and inlcuded interviews with veteran DJ and radio host Bobby Konders, author/photographer Beth Lesser, and JARADIO TV show host Shakira Mitchell.