St. Ann 'Massover'

The Easter weekend has emerged as the high point of the cultural life for the citizens of St Ann. In fact, the live events that took place last weekend have a much broader national appeal and patronage, as well as generating significant economic spin-offs, benefiting not only the host parish, but many other parishes including the mainly Kingston-based promoters and sponsors.

To commence the weekend, the annual Melrose Kite Festival was held on Good Friday. On Saturday, Chukka Cove hosted the ultra all-inclusive day session called Daydreams. Also on Saturday, the annual drink-inclusive Bacchanal Beach J'ouvert was again held at James Bond Beach. Then came the big day, Sunday, when the all-inclusive Appleton Rapids was staged at White River Park; Alex Chin and Daniel Abbott had their annual all-inclusive Luau at Reggae Beach and of course Lee Enterprises had the Jamaica Carnival Countdown at Richmond Estate Recreation Park. The weekend ended on Easter Monday with bumper crowds attending the St Ann Kite Festival at Seville Heritage Park and racing at the Dover Raceway. These last two caused an intense traffic jam which stretched all the way from St Ann's Bay to Landovery from 4:00 pm until nearly midnight.

Revellers at Richmond Estate last Sunday for Jamaica Carnival Countdown

If one were to compare the Easter weekend for the hotel and accommodations sector of St Ann with the ancient "massover".oops, I mean Passover weekend in Bethlehem, the famous phrase "there was no room in the inn" would most certainly apply. That weekend, all the hotels - big and small - were booked out solid, some of them months in advance, forcing many to seek accommodation as far away as Starfish and other hotel properties in Trelawny. A few folks even chose to camp out rather than miss the action. As I watched the mass-ive influx with Ocho Rios and its environs swelling to the seams, I recalled that famous 1980 slogan and wondered if the last person leaving Kingston would please turn out the lights.

This has also brought a tremendous fillip to local restaurants and supermarkets, clubs and beaches. Naturally, all of these business people had to employ additional staff to handle the increased flow of customers, boosting employment figures for the parish, even if only temporarily.

Interestingly, in discussion with Byron Lee, I learnt that the first year Carnival Countdown was held at Chukka Cove, over fourteen thousand patrons attended the show. He told me that after a few years, this levelled off to an average of eight thousand. Over the last three years, this number has been further reduced to an average of four thousand yearly.

This should not come as a surprise and the reason is quite obvious. When Carnival started, it was tapping into a trend that had begun at the start of the decade of the '90s whereby Kingstonians largely vacationed in Ocho Rios on the Easter weekend. Synergy Productions had started a two-day family fun fair, including a live show at a small village in St Mary called Bonham Springs, which got its main support from city dwellers. The size of the event quickly mushroomed, before it became extinct with its parent company. To some extent, it is true to say that Synergy Productions' demise coincided with the growth of Carnival and Soca music in Jamaica.

Chukka Cove Carnival Countdown gave additional impetus to the relatively new vacation trend and initially was the lone big event pulling in the crowds. Since then however, the entertainment and recreational choices, as demonstrated above, are much more diverse. In another modern parallel to the Jews of old, this has dispersed Carnival's target audience, in what is essentially a small economy with a limited potential market. So what is a boon to the overall economy is not necessarily synonymous with the self-interest of any particular promoter, especially since the costs of the productions do not decrease as the competition increases. The reality is that, without adequate sponsorship, many of these events would be unsustainable.

Unfortunately, I must close with an unfavourable comment. Jamaican audiences have a disgusting, anti-social habit that we have to face up to and attempt to curb. One common factor at the end of all of these functions, was meat particles and bones on the grounds. The habit of throwing away food particles as we eat does not occur to this magnitude anywhere else in the world where I have attended concerts and festivals, and it is certainly not because sufficient garbage disposal receptacles are not provided at most of these venues. Nor is this habit traditional in Jamaica. This is just another manifestation of the prevailing breakdown in our national social order and cultural mores.

This backward cultural tendency is unhygienic and also has a very negative impact on the environment, throwing it out of whack. It only serves the proliferation of ants and other termites, rodents and scavengers.