This year will mark 50 years since the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has been in existence and since the treaty of Chaguaramas was signed. CARICOM is revered as the oldest surviving integration movement in the developing world,so 50 years is certainly worth celebrating.
The Guyana Folk Festival organising committee is making its contribution this year under the theme “recognising and celebrating its New York roots“.
One of the organisers of the event, Vibert Cambridge noted that “this year, Brooklyn -based Guyana Cultural Association of New York, Inc will explore New York’s Caribbean. It is our contribution to the 50th anniversary of CARICOM”.

In a document sent, the Brooklyn -based Guyana Cultural Association of New York, Inc published its first online edition magazine for 2023 .
The document also noted that the Guyana Folk Festival is a family day of the best in Guyanese culture, food, music and entertainment
The first Guyana UK Folk Festival was held in 2008. This cultural extravaganza aims to bring a taste of Guyana’s rich cultural heritage to the shores of the UK. Performers have included GUSDA’s Patron and Guyanese icon, Ram John Holder (aka Pork Pie), Flautist Keith Waithe, Actress Doris Harper-Wills, and Poet Marc Matthews. The event has also had special performances from US and Guyanese-based artist Terry Gadraj, Big Red, Jumo Primo (former lead singer of the world-famous Byron Lee & the Dragonaires), and Comedienne Liza Singh.
The Folk Festival gives Guyanese a taste of home. It provides an opportunity for Guyanese to get together, reminisce and reflect on how things were ‘back in the de day’. For the children of Guyanese parentage, people of the Caribbean, and other countries, the Folk Festival is an opportunity to experience this rich cultural heritage.

Participants are also treated to a variety of traditional Guyanese dishes, ranging from the mouth-watering main courses of curry and roti, pepper pot and cook-up to the delicious taste of salara, cassava pone, and pine tart washed down with a glass of mauby or sorrel.
According to an article published in the Guyana Chronicle dated August 14, 2022, Cambridge was quoted as saying that “the Guyana Folk Festival is an annual event organised by the Guyana Cultural Association of New York, a complaint not for profit organisation. The festival has been held in Brooklyn, New York for the past 22 years. The Guyana Folk Festival organised by the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation in the early 1980s was the inspiration behind this event for the past 22 years,“ Cambridge told Pepperpot.