Trinbago Toronto ready to rock Nathan Phillips Square

Toronto is getting ready for three days of soca, chutney, food and Trinidad and Tobago culture as the Trinbago Toronto Festival returns to Nathan Phillips Square this weekend.

The free festival runs Friday, August 28 through Sunday, August 30, marking its fifth edition and bringing the sounds, flavours and culture of the twin-island republic into the heart of downtown Toronto.

Among the performers expected to get the square jumping is soca super-star Shurwayne Winchester, making his first appearance on the festival’s main stage.

Winchester, a two-time Trinidad and Tobago Road March champion and multiple Soca Monarch winner, arrives with a catalogue built for a high-energy Toronto crowd. Among the songs generating attention is his treatment of the Baron classic “Rock It,” alongside Yung Bredda.

Also returning by popular demand is chutney soca star KI Persad, following his well-received appearance at last year’s festival. KI made history in 2012 when, at 25, he became the youngest winner of Trinidad and Tobago’s Chutney Soca Monarch competition at the time.

Toronto talent will also have its moment.

Miguel Maestre and This is Kash are expected to bring “Hornin” to the festival stage after the collaboration became a major social-media success around Trinidad Carnival.

The performers say the song accumulated more than one million views across Instagram posts, with additional exposure of approximately 500,000 views on TikTok and 300,000 on Facebook.

Its success was largely organic, with the artists posting clips and watching the audience response grow. Maestre described the numbers as becoming “bigger and better than any song I ever do.”

Music, however, is only part of the weekend.

Trinbago Toronto was created as a broader showcase of Trinidad and Tobago and its diaspora, celebrating contributions in areas including cuisine, sport, music, business, innovation and the creative and performing arts.

Festival-goers can also expect vendors serving Trinidad and Tobago cuisine along with cultural performances and displays throughout the weekend.

The festival opens Friday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., continues Saturday from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m., and wraps up Sunday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is free.

For three days, Nathan Phillips Square will offer Torontonians a chance to lime, eat, dance and experience a taste of Trinidad and Tobago without leaving the city.

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