South Florida’s West Indian community, which has grown considerably in the past 30 years, now has a place where its accomplishments and history are acknowledged. The Island SPACE Caribbean Museum was relaunched April 8 in the city of Plantation.

David Muir, co-founder of the museum, estimates that almost 600 people visited the venue at Broward Mall which previously housed artefacts from the various Caribbean countries at a smaller location.

With this larger space, Muir says visitors can stroll the museum for longer periods and get an appreciation of West Indian history.

“It was extremely important for us to engage the community and welcome them into this place that is essentially theirs. Without our guests, Island SPACE Caribbean Museum is simply a collection of old things in a pretty facility. It is the people we serve that bring Island SPACE to life, and so welcoming those nearly 600 people who explored the space on Saturday, April 8, was a necessary, joyful endeavour for our team,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Kingston-born Muir disclosed that opening-day visitors came from Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, Guyana, Haiti, St Lucia, US Virgin Islands, Venezuela, as well as the United States and Middle East.

On display are items donated by well-known personalities including Sean Paul, Shaggy, Sir Vivian Richards, Chris Gayle, Usain Bolt, Ato Boldon, Sly Dunbar, former Third World drummer Willie Stewart, and dancehall deejay Spice.

“The museum has artefacts and information on the region’s indigenous Taino people, plantation life items such as a sad iron and kerosene funnel, household and kitchen items including a Trinidadian dabla for making ‘buss up shut’ roti and a cou cou stick from Barbados for the making of that island’s national dish (flying fish and cou cou), relics from the governmental realm including a piece of debris from the Haitian presidential palace that fell in the 2010 earthquake,” Muir disclosed.

Muir and fellow Jamaican Calibe Thompson are conceptualisers of Island SPACE Museum which opened in October 2020. Because of COVID-19, it saw little activity since that launch.

Last Saturday’s event was attended by representatives from the tourist boards of The Bahamas, Barbados, and Jamaica.

Once considered docile compared to larger Caribbean Diaspora areas like New York City and Toronto, South Florida’s West Indians are now among the most influential immigrant groups. Many of the commission seats in the cities of Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes, Miramar, Pembroke Pines, Plantation, and Tamarac are filled by Caribbean-Americans.

The Island SPACE Caribbean Museum will be open Thursdays through Saturdays from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm and Sundays from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm.