If you get a thrill from curried goat, voodoo, warm island breezes, unusual dances or daredevil bike riders, yesterday was your day.

. . .

The Carib Fest, a celebration of Caribbean arts and culture, got the island breezes -- at Brown's Island downtown.

On a glorious afternoon in the mid-80s, people listened to reggae and steel-drum music while eating curried goat and fried plantains. They also learned interesting tidbits about Caribbean nations.

"We have the second-longest barrier reef in the world," said Crispina Mendez, a spokeswoman for Belize's embassy in Washington.

A tent extolling the virtues of the Virgin Islands featured a poster of the islands' most-famous athletes. The list included former boxing great Emile Griffith and former Yankees' second-baseman Horace Clark.

Raymond A. Joseph, Haiti's ambassador to the U.S., was quite conversant on the subject of voodoo.

"When people think of voodoo, they think about the pins and the dolls. . . . That is sorcery and witchcraft," Joseph said.

In reality, he said, "voodoo is a religion, like any other."

Another tent featured students from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry, raising money for a trip to provide free care for the poor in Jamaica.

"We help people take care of their teeth and get out of pain," said student Sophie Oswald, 27, of Falls Church.

About 2,500 attended the Carib Fest at midafternoon, and the crowd was expected to grow to about 7,500 before the event ended last night.

Different islands were being celebrated at the Filipino Festival at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 8200 Woodman Road in Henrico County. That festival also drew several thousand people.

"You have saved $2,000 in airfare" by going to the festival instead of the Philippines, said festival director Emmanuel E. Eugenio, a Mechanicsville pediatrician.

The food included two pigs, cooked whole, that seemed to be smiling at their predicament.

Activities included a dance, open to young and old, that required hopping between two sturdy bamboo poles that others moved back and forth at ankle height. You learned to dance, or you got sore ankles.

"It didn't hurt," said Joey Bolda, 8, of Henrico.

Two teenage boys played a non-video game that involved moving shells through various holes in a wooden board.

"If they had this game on the Wii, I'd buy it," said Brian Martin, 16, of Henrico.

In another game, a man lowered a wooden rack to which various toys were attached, and children jumped for them.

Kaleigh Schneider, 9, of Henrico made a haul that included bubble-blowing stuff, pencils and a ball.

She attributed her success to a strategy that will serve her long after she puts aside her toys. "I just kept on jumping," she said.

Good old American culture -- skateboards, bikes and hot dogs -- got celebrated at the Extreme Expo, which drew about 300 to Henrico's Laurel Skate Park at 10301 Hungary Spring Road.

The main attraction was the daredevil boarding and biking of the professional FreeCycle Action Sports Team from Philadelphia.

A popular activity for the less skilled was the riding, and the falling off of, a mechanical surfboard.

Others, attached to protective ropes, climbed an artificial rock wall.

"It felt really good, like you were in the air and alive and had freedom and could go really high," said Gabby Levet, 12, of Henrico.
Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or rspringston@timesdispatch.com.