Our History

In 2006, the Winnipeg Soca Reggae Music Festival came together when community organizer Wade Kojo Williams brought his idea of creating a three day music Festival that would bring the two genres of music together in Central Park. His vision to increase the awareness of Soca and Reggae music in Winnipeg and to provide an opportunity where this music can be enjoyed was the format for the first Festival. The Winnipeg Soca Reggae Music Festival was created with a mission to promote local and regional awareness of Soca and Reggae music and also to strive to lobby mainstream media to give the music more airplay.

The founding members had a very strong connection to Soca and Reggae music and to endeavor to educate the general public about this quickly evolving music. The Winnipeg Soca Reggae Music Festival committee has succeeded in providing a three-day celebration of Soca and Reggae music artistes coming from all around the world. From its roots at Central Park where the first Festival was held in 2006 to the Old Market Square in downtown Winnipeg where the Festival has now found a home, the Festival is a truly all-inclusive celebration of the ever-evolving mosaic of music.

The Winnipeg Soca-Reggae Music Festival is a simple love of this beautiful Caribbean culture that brings people together from all races, classes and creeds in a celebration of Soca, Reggae, Calypso and revelry together with Caribbean flavors in downtown Winnipeg at Old Market Square in the heart of the Exchange District BIZ.

What began in 2006 as an event to keep the music of the Caribbean alive has now become a multi-cultural event merging Caribbean and Canadians into a colorful and exciting event celebrated in the second weekend of July. This is evident by the participation in and attendance of the Festival.

The Festival has a simple mission.