The Island Fish Fry, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

Location: The Bight (near Grace Bay, next to Mr Groupers)

Ambiance: Lively crowd in a casual outdoor open market setting full of local vendors selling food, drinks, and souvenirs. Family friendly, especially earlier in the night – as the evening carries on it does get more crowded and turns into a bit of a party

Best Bet for Live Music: Thursday evenings with host + DJ + live bands + Junkanoo parade. Rough timing is DJ & host from 5:30-7pm and 8-8:30pm + live band from 7pm to 8pm and 9-9:30pm + Junkanoo parade typically starts 8:30pm for ~30 min

Recent Lineup: Host Sweet Mickey, DJ Sticky, A+ Band, Qband Lynks, V6 Band, We Funk Junkanoo Band,

Food: find everything from $5 hotdogs or fish fingers to $25 seafood, rib, or chicken entrees plus sides - endless local dishes to choose from as you wander around the 10+ local food vendors - see photos of some of the menus below

Drink: while Turks Head Brewery has a tap room truck on site serving up several of their local beers, this is far from a beer only event - find full bars, specialty cocktails, smoothies, juices and more - you will not get thirsty here!

Happy Hour: many local drink vendors, see their individual boards for great prices on drinks!

Insider Tip #1: get there well before sunset to check out all the vendors before it gets too crowded - or if you you want to pack everything in without spending your whole night here, come closer to 7:30 and grab some food and drink (expect a line at most of the food vendors), enjoy the live band, and around 8:30p experience the Turks and Caicos tradition, the Junkanoo parade

Insider Tip #2: while there are a fair number of picnic tables throughout the grounds, the fish fry is often crowded so seating can be hard to come by. Be a bit patient (and willing to sit close to others) and a few spots will normally open up or just enjoy the market vibes and eat standing up

Insider Tip #3: if you are a live music fan, this is one of the few places you can go to enjoy a local band playing every week. While many restaurants, bars, and resorts host live music several nights a week their shows are typically ‘one-man bands’ (the exception being Castaways and Crackpot Kitchen who host local bands weekly). The Fish Fry is the real deal - the best local bands rotate to play here every week. If you don’t like eating in crowds / at picnic tables then grab an early dinner somewhere else and just come here for the music, it is a unique TCI experience not to be missed for music lovers!

With over 15 local food and drink vendors, endless stalls with souvenirs and local crafts – plus a lively local band (often the A+ Band or QBand Lynks) from 6pm, the Junkanoo parade around 830, and the dynamic duo of Host Sweet Mickey & DJ Sticky, this is truly a unique island experience to check out on Thursday evenings