BARBADOS FESTIVALS

The biggest blowout of the year is the Crop Over Festival, held late June through the end of August. This island-wide celebration includes six weeks of competitions and festivities that exhibit Barbadian arts, foods, music, and dance. Look for the calypso and steel band competitions, folk concerts, and craft exhibitions and markets.

Music lovers head to the island in mid-January for the Barbados Jazz Festival, where world-class artists such as Ray Charles, Roberta Flack, and others have headlined. Other major events include February's week-long Holetown Festival to celebrate the arrival of the first settlers on the island, and April's Oistins Fish Festival with fish boning competitions, boat races, dances, and crafts. Or, jump in the Caribbean's longest conga line at DeCongaline Carnival, an 11-day street festival held in late April.