{"id":109158,"date":"2026-01-07T15:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T15:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/109158\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T15:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T15:39:11","slug":"7th-annual-soup-joumou-celebration-marks-222nd-anniversary-of-haitis-independence-lifestyles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/109158\/","title":{"rendered":"7th Annual Soup Joumou Celebration marks 222nd anniversary of Haiti&#8217;s independence | Lifestyles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Jan. 1, 2026, the 7th Annual Soup Joumou Celebration brought residents together to commemorate the 222nd anniversary of Haiti\u2019s independence. The event, co-sponsored by North Miami Councilwoman Mary Estim\u00e9-Irvin and Miami-Dade Commissioner Marleine Bastien, welcomed nearly 350 attendees for a day of cultural connection and live musical performances.<\/p>\n<p>Building on the event\u2019s impact, Councilwoman Estim\u00e9-Irvin this year introduced the Freedom Essay Contest, inviting middle school students to share what Soup Joumou means to them.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s celebration also marked the beginning of North Miami\u2019s centennial celebrations, leading up to the city\u2019s 100th anniversary in May.<\/p>\n<p>Various elected officials and civic leaders were in attendance, including School Board member\u00a0Dr. Steve Gallon, Miami-Dade County Mayor\u00a0Daniella Levine Cava, State Sen. Shevrin Jones, State Rep.\u00a0Wallace Aristide, North Miami Mayor\u00a0Alix Desulme, representatives from the\u00a0Consulate of Haiti, and more.<\/p>\n<p>Co-hosted by\u00a0Meca AKA Grimo\u00a0and\u00a0Stichiz, the program included a surprise appearance by international recording artist\u00a0Alan Cav\u00e9, a rendition of the National Anthems by\u00a0Linda &#8216;Porsha&#8217; Estim\u00e9, and a history-inspired fashion presentation by\u00a0Phelicia Dell. The celebration was further elevated by the appearance of\u00a0Miss Universe Haiti\u00a0and the recognition of this year\u2019s honorees, who included Phelicia Dell, Sandra Toussaint-Phanor, Dr. Naomi Esther Blemur, Marckenson Jeanty, Calvin Hughes, Michael McDearmaid\u00a0and Guylene Berry.<\/p>\n<p>                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\" alt=\"Soup Joumou 2\" class=\"img-responsive lazyload full blur\" width=\"1763\" height=\"1175\" data- data-\/><\/p>\n<p>             <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/695e0103d4cfa.image.jpg\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" loading=\"lazy\" height=\"133\" width=\"200\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                    (Courtesy of Hip Rock Star)<\/p>\n<p>                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\" alt=\"Soup Joumou 3\" class=\"img-responsive lazyload full blur\" width=\"1763\" height=\"1175\" data- data-\/><\/p>\n<p>             <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/695e0121d6414.image.jpg\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" loading=\"lazy\" height=\"133\" width=\"200\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                    (Courtesy of Hip Rock Star)<\/p>\n<p>                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\" alt=\"Soup Joumou 4\" class=\"img-responsive lazyload full blur\" width=\"1763\" height=\"1175\" data- data-\/><\/p>\n<p>             <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/695e0148e905a.image.jpg\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" loading=\"lazy\" height=\"133\" width=\"200\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                    (Courtesy of Hip Rock Star)<\/p>\n<p>                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\" alt=\"Soup Joumou 5\" class=\"img-responsive lazyload full blur\" width=\"1763\" height=\"1175\" data- data-\/><\/p>\n<p>             <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/695e016f6e743.image.jpg\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" loading=\"lazy\" height=\"133\" width=\"200\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                    (Courtesy of Hip Rock Star)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Jan. 1, 2026, the 7th Annual Soup Joumou Celebration brought residents together to commemorate the 222nd anniversary&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[55868,55873,55855,55867,55870,55859,55874,55865,55872,55857,55863,225,227,226,55861,55860,55869,55862,55875,55866,55871,55858,55854,55864,55856],"class_list":["post-109158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-alan-cav-live-performance","tag-caribbean-cultural-events-miami","tag-haiti-independence-day-2026","tag-haitian-american-community-miami","tag-haitian-consulate-miami-event","tag-haitian-culture-celebration-florida","tag-haitian-diaspora-south-florida","tag-haitian-heritage-events-january-2026","tag-haitian-history-and-culture-education","tag-haitian-independence-anniversary-222nd","tag-haitian-independence-day-miami-dade","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news","tag-marleine-bastien-miami-dade-commissioner","tag-mary-estim-irvin-north-miami","tag-miss-universe-haiti-appearance","tag-north-miami-centennial-celebrations","tag-north-miami-civic-celebration","tag-north-miami-cultural-festival","tag-north-miami-elected-officials-event","tag-north-miami-haitian-community-event","tag-soup-joumou-celebration-north-miami","tag-soup-joumou-freedom-essay-contest","tag-soup-joumou-haitian-tradition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}