NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Joins SocaFest Celebration and Brings Kes to the Stage

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined the Caribbean community Friday night as SocaFest 2026 took over the Brooklyn Museum, adding another memorable moment to New York’s massive Labor Day Weekend celebration.

During the festivities, Mayor Mamdani took the stage and helped welcome Trinidad and Tobago soca superstar Kes to the stage, connecting City Hall with the music, energy and Caribbean culture that transforms Brooklyn every Labor Day Weekend.

SocaFest was held Friday, September 4, at the Brooklyn Museum, with the celebration running from 8 p.m. until 3 a.m. The star-powered lineup featured Kes the Band, Bunji Garlin, Fay-Ann Lyons and the Viking Band, and WCK.

The mayor’s appearance comes as Brooklyn enters one of its biggest cultural weekends of the year. Labor Day Weekend culminates Monday with the West Indian American Day Carnival Parade along Eastern Parkway, one of North America’s largest celebrations of Caribbean culture.

Mamdani has made a point of embracing New York’s Caribbean community. Just days before Labor Day Weekend, he hosted a Caribbean Heritage Reception at Gracie Mansion, where he celebrated the enormous contributions Caribbean New Yorkers have made to the city and confirmed that City Hall would be represented during the festivities on Eastern Parkway.

At SocaFest, however, the focus was on the music. Bringing Kes to the stage provided a fitting Labor Day Weekend moment, as one of soca’s most internationally recognized performers delivered the sounds of Trinidad and Tobago to a Brooklyn crowd ready for Carnival.

From SocaFest at the Brooklyn Museum to J’Ouvert and Monday’s massive celebration on Eastern Parkway, Caribbean culture is once again taking center stage in New York City — and this Labor Day Weekend, even the mayor is joining the fete.