Today, Sunday, July 12, 2009, all eyes and ears will turn to Lake Quassy, Middlebury, Connecticut for the 12th Annual Merritone Family Fun Day – the largest Caribbean family picnic in North America. Given the buzz on the event, organizer Conroy Allison and his team have been working overtime, trying to ensure everything is in place for what should be another successful event.
Lake Quassy, home of the Family funday for the past 6 years is spread over 20 acres of sprawling real estate and offers a multitude of exciting and fun-filled attractions for the whole family. Idyllic and pristine, this lush jewel of Connecticut, possesses some of natures best offerings: A vast lake for swimming or canoeing, an amusement park with twenty four different rides for the kids, a large picnic grove, an electronic game arcade, food stands and restaurants, plus the exciting Saturation Station—a new interactive water family play-area, with more than thirty ways to get drenched. Special events include Caribbean karaoke and talent contests, the ‘Royal Caribbean Bakery Patty & Bun Eating Contest, kiddies dance contest, Through the years dance performance by Al Castor & Persian the Cat, treasure Hunt and the hotly contested “Tri-State Knockout Domino Competition” where teams compete for cash prizes compliments of Western Union. Music will be provided by Merritone Disco featuring the maestro Winston and Trevor Blake alongside the award winning DJ Roy from Road International Disco, Supa Fridge, Glamor Wayne and Kulcha Touch with DJ Desu. The fun-filled day begins at 11 am and goes until 10pm.
“We strive to provide clean wholesome fun for the entire family” Allison boast.
“Every year we have patrons coming in from as far as Atlanta, Florida, Canada and even a few who visit us from Jamaica. Caribbean nationals, despite immigration, thrive on preserving their rich culture and we make every effort to meet that expectation. There’s a treasure trove of special memories for everyone that join us at Lake Quassy and we’re sure this year will be no different as we celebrate with the Merritone Family” he noted.
As part of the 12th anniversary celebrations, Allison disclosed that the organizing committee has again confirmed a renown veteran artiste who will perform live for patrons attending the event.
“We feel it is our duty to do something extra special for loyal patrons who have supported us over the years. Last year we invited singers Boris Gardiner and Nadine Sutherland to perform. Both were well received and delivered stellar performances which we were really very happy for. The challenge again this year is to bring on board an artiste that compliments and exemplifies what the event is all about and we are confident we have found that artiste” he said.
While he kept the name of the artiste close to his chest, he did say the artiste is extremely popular in the Jamaican, reggae community and is an artiste who has not performed in the tri-state area for a very long time.
When asked if if there were any plans in place to take the family fun day to other U.S. cities Allison said, ” Absolutely! Although the plans are in the embryonic phase, there is a very strong demand for entertainment of this kind. We are looking initially at Florida and Atlanta at this point and eventually hope to move to other US cities and possibly internationally, but for now we are working at pooling our ideas and connecting with our contacts in these cities to see how feasible this project will be in the mid to long term.”
