2010 Portland Jerk Festival Launched

Portland Jerk Festival 2010 was officially launched at the Folly Oval, Port Antonio on Tuesday (June 8).
The event, which will be held on Sunday (July 4), will feature over 25 authentic jerk vendors from Portland and other areas offering jerked pork, chicken, lobster, shrimp, goat, beef and conch, and other jerked meats at reasonable prices.
Entertainment will feature a combination of popular artistes and cultural items throughout the day, to facilitate different tastes. Among the artistes performing will be the Mighty Sparrow, Busy Signal, Cecile, Charley Blacks, Richie Stephens, Peter Lloyd, Leroy Gibbons, and Byron Lee’s Dragonaires.
Public Relations Officer for the Portland Jerk Festival Committee, Norma Williams, said the event brings together agriculture and entertainment, and every effort will be made to ensure that it remains true to the original concept of promoting local communities and businesses.
She said that the festival aims to showcase the “Portland Jerk Experience” through good food and wholesome family entertainment. It will also feature a Kiddies Village offering rides all day at a minimal cost.
Noting that the Portland Jerk Festival is really a celebration of two features unique to the Jamaican culture – reggae and jerk, Mrs. Williams asserted that there is no better place to stage it than in the parish where jerk originated, and tourism was formally born.