Bishop’s Cooler Fete 2026
This weekend we attended Bishop's food inclusive cooler fete at the school compound. The fete was scheduled to go from 5pm to midnight but since this was my first fete of the season I decided to drive myself there early rather than wait for miss lady to return from "pilates" and end up arriving close to midnight or 7:45pm or whatever.
Parking was conveniently located in NAPA and other car park locations nearby. After parking I decided to organize the cooler. While beating the bag of ice against a wall like it stole my gin it suddenly hit me. I remember telling myself at home "self, don't forget to organize the gin in the cooler"...which I should know from experience makes me immediately forget. I packed everything in the cooler EXCEPT the gin. Imagine I, Tana the Gin-Fluencer (copyright pending), had to drink straight club soda for the first hour of the fete until the missus arrived with my much needed elixir of fun. No I don't need to drink to have a good time, but it helps.
I was greeted at the entrance by Wendy whose bubbly energy made me think she had gin somewhere behind that table. As soon as you enter you realize Bishop's is a cooler fete with an all-inclusive vibe. People were dressed like it was a proper $2,000 fete. One dude had on a white linen kit with a blue and black "kick and stab" Oxfords.
Seeing as I had no alcohol in me I took the opportunity to explore the fete and see the sights. My sobriety allowed me to navigate the sea of elderly patrons who dropped their cooler anywhere they felt, pathways be "damned".
Ok, so Bishop's crowd is more mature than most fetes. The DJ commented that he was seeing a cross-section of ages in the crowd. I totally agreed....old, older and oldest. I'm on the cusp of the older category. One person mentioned the crowd was mature and I was like miss lady you're almost 50, you're not exactly a millennial.
However, regardless of the demographic everyone was there to fete and have a good time, it just took a little longer for us to warm up. A challenge that Sekon Sta encountered as the first performer at 7pm. Sekon tried his best to get the crowd going, god bless him but it was tough. On a separate note, Sekon looked a lil puffed up, either he hitting the gym hard or the carbs.
Personally I think they started the performances too early as people were still arriving, some were busy stuffing their face and nobody was properly sauced enough yet to appreciate some new unknown female soca artist....whose performance I missed because I was fighting with a couple of fish tacos in the food court....a fight I lost having dropped one...ok let's call it a draw.
There were two food courts with an assortment of food. There was bake and shark, pholourie (I pronounce it exactly how it's spelt), wantons, tacos, geera everything with rice, all manner of pork, the list seemed endless. Almost as endless as the lines and not as endless as the supply of food, as multiple people complained things were running out at different stations. I had to remind them this is a $450ish cooler fete, not a premium all-inclusive. The options went above and beyond the usual cooler fete corn soup and doubles. Eat at home and go drink from your cooler, at least you have alcohol...there are starving kids in Africa without gin.
I returned to my cooler to catch the end of GBM Nutron who was still struggling to get the crowd moving. The thing that actually moved the crowd was when the DJ played Bunji's 2026 mega hit...Still A Road Man. Imagine people saying that is their road march pick when the song is about him not competing anymore. Bunji should cuss allyuh after allyuh choose that "tring-gum" tune last year. Anyway I go rant about that in a separate post.
Before I forget, I was fortunate to meet and take a selfie with an avid reader and self-appointed President of my fan club. Large up yourself Indra. Lewwe organize a fan club fete....or brunch.
The performances continued with Full Blown whose big tune had the tanties in the crowd and the saga boys dressed like Baron fired up. They were followed by the Empress of Soca, the rich dark chocolate diva Nadia (who I kinda like....LOVE!) After her was new trim Mical Teja who looks like a proper singer now that he fly that TCB dread. He was joined by Patrice for their Capital tune. The last performance was from Voice but, at the risk of never being invited to his Vibes concert, he was lil boring but that was probably just me.
After making up for lost time with the gin the rest of the night was a blur. The wife told me some of the crazy things I did and said after we left. I had to remind her of my mantra "if I don't remember it, it didn't happen".
All in all Bishop's scored a very respectable "3.75 - Decent" on the TL Fete Ranking...slightly lower than last year as I found the all-inclusive vibe was more than the cooler fete vibe this year.
TANA