In it's 21st year the Island Festival has brought hundreds of thousands of people through Kalamazoo in celebration of Island Culture. As World Beat and Reggae Night at Club Soda in the 1980's became the club's most popular night, it became clear that this celebration deserved more than one night. In 1996, Paul Toth and Wayne Deering joined forces to produce the first ever Island Festival. Since then the Island Festival has grown in size and scale into a three day festival attracting international acts, craft and food vendors from across the country and over 20,000 reggae fans each year. Get ready for some good times with three days and nights of reggae music rocking downtown Kalamazoo. Food, drinks, beer, and wine are available by the purchase of tickets, each costing $.50 for items usually priced between three and eight tickets. Great emphasis must be placed on the available variety and quality of Jamaican and Caribbean inspired cuisine. For entertainment, the live reggae music line-up runs all day and ranges from the top local talent to well-known regional and national headliners presented outdoors under blue skies and beautiful sunshine all the way until the evening playing irie tunes under the moon and stars.
