There are festivals all year long in the Caribbean, celebrating everything from music to holidays to food.  There’s lots to keep you busy while you’re enjoying one of the islands beautiful Tortola villas, and now a fun new festival to see is the small but very entertaining Mango Array and Tropical Fruit Festival.

The idea of a mango festival came to fruition in 2009, when the island was looking for ways to promote the tasty fruit and other fruit trees in the Virgin Islands.  The main goal: to showcase all the different ways you can use mangoes to make delicious things, and to encourage local businesses to use mangoes.

There’s a kid’s mango eating competition, bobbing for mangoes, games and face painting, and for adults, lots of information about cultivating, growing and cooking with mangoes.

In 2012, the festival added a mango juice contest with prizes for the tastiest non-alcoholic drink entries.

Mangoes are known as the king of fruits, and were brought to the Caribbean from India hundreds of years ago. The mango is one of the most commonly grown tropical fruits because they are so tasty and so versatile.  You can make a mango into just about everything from ice cream to a salad to a drink, and they are juicy and sweet all on their own.

The very best way to taste a mango is to book a holiday to one of our lovely Tortola villas, and taste one fresh from the tree.  You can also slice up a fresh mango with a little vanilla ice cream to enjoy by the pool in the evening.  Or slice up a fresh mango, a red onion, some fresh green and red peppers, and grill together with white wine, chili powder and cumin to serve on some delicious fresh fish.