Trelawny Yam Fest to Bring Thousands to Albert Town

The Trelawny Yam Festival, this year, is expected to be the best ever, attracting thousands of Jamaicans and tourists to the parish.

The event, being organized by the Southern Trelawny Environmental Agency (STEA), will be held in Albert Town on Easter Monday, March 28.

“We are looking to make this the biggest and most successful Yam Festival since its inception in 1997 with the hope of bringing 25,000 visitors to Albert Town. The event will feature many new and exciting attractions so that people of all ages will be able to enjoy themselves,” STEA’s Chairman, Hugh Dixon said.

Noting that the parish boasted a rich agricultural and culinary heritage, Mr. Dixon said the event would entail an entire week of celebration to highlight the significance of the area.

“Festival activities will begin from March 22 with a variety of events throughout the week, including: Farmers’ Field Day celebration, which recognizes the area’s farmers; Farm King and Queen Pageant, which selects the most outstanding young man and woman to be the ambassadors of the culture and heritage of “yam country”,” he said.

He further informed that a sports day would also be held as part of the week’s celebration and that the activities would include a three-on-three basketball tournament, a 50-kilometre road/bicycle race, and relays, staged to reflect the endurance, physical fitness and form of the yam farmer.

In addition, he said that there would be the Yam Farmer’s Competition in which prizes would be awarded for the most unusual shaped yam, best quality yam and heaviest yam.

Other competitions include yam hill digging, culinary arts contest, and the best-dressed donkey and goat competition.

Pointing out that the main objective of the event was to promote yam and its by-products, Mr. Dixon informed that on the day of the event, vendors would sell a variety of yam dishes, jerk and all other Jamaican culinary favourites at the Festival Village.

Parish Manager for the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) in Trelawny, Donald Robinson told JIS News that RADA’s Home Economics Department would be participating in the event.

“Our Home Economics groups in Albert Town, Sawyers and Ulster Spring will be showcasing the versatility and multiplicity of uses of yams. They will be selling yam chips and yam wine among other things made from yam. They will also be showing the public how to peel and preserve yam,” he said.

Mr. Robinson urged the members of the public to participate in the Trelawny Yam Festival as it promises to be a grand celebration.