Five Parishes to Select Festival Queens This Weekend

The final five Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Parish coronations will take place this weekend in the parishes of Clarendon, Westmoreland, St. Thomas, St. James and Manchester.

Events Coordinator at the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), Michael Nicholson, said the parish of Clarendon will crown its Festival Queen at the St. Gabriel Anglican Church Hall, 10 Church Street, May Pen, on Saturday, May 30.

On that same day, Westmoreland will host its coronation at the Sean Lavery Faith Hall, Savanna-la-mar, while the St. Thomas Festival Queen Show will be held at Colonel Cove in Morant Bay. Mr. Nicholson said that all events will begin at 8:00 p.m. and tickets will be available at JCDC parish offices.

Finishing the month in fine style will be the St. James and Manchester Queen coronations.

On Sunday, May 31, St. James will crown its Parish Queen at the Iberostar Hotel in Lilliput, beginning at 7:00 p.m., while Manchester will host its coronation on the same day at the Cecil Charlton Hall at 7:00 p.m.

Mr. Nicholson told JIS News that after the Parish shows, the contestants will prepare for the National Coronation scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 1, at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre, in Kingston, at 8:00 p.m.

He pointed out that the parish queens will participate in two regional development workshops in Montego Bay and Kingston & St Andrew.

“The ladies will be trained in various areas, such as poise, posture, wardrobe planning, social graces, etiquette, voice and speech, diction and microphone technique to further groom them for the National competition. The contestants will also make several courtesy calls,” he added.

Mr. Nicholson explained that the contestants are from various tertiary institutions, and are highly community driven.

This year the competition is being staged under the theme: ‘Jamaican Women…Shaping our Culture and our Nation’, and is the premier forum for intelligent, culturally-aware and poised young ladies seeking a platform to make their contributions to nation building and to be selected as cultural ambassadors for Jamaica.

In addition to a number of cash awards, the Queen will receive trophies from sponsors, which include, Excelsior, VMBS, Singer, Confidence, Biore, Jergens , Grace Fresh N Ready and This is Really Great Yogurt.

She will also go on to represent Jamaica as a cultural ambassador at a number of cultural and civic events, both nationally and internationally.