Month-Long Celebrations for ‘Miss Lou’

The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) is commemorating the 104th anniversary of the birth of late cultural icon, Dr. the Hon. Louise Bennett Coverley, with a month-long series of activities across the island.

Dr. Bennett, affectionately called ‘Miss Lou’, was born on September 7, 1919, at 40 North Street, Kingston.

The celebrations began with a floral tribute at National Heroes Park on her birthday and will end on September 29.

Activities will include parish library exhibitions, mini-displays, re-enacting of ‘Ring Ding’, Miss Lou look-a-like and bandana competitions, virtual symposium, lunch-hour concerts and readings of Miss Lou’s poems to students.

Director of the Community, Cultural Development Services Division, JCDC, Marjorie Leyden Kirton, told JIS News that the entity has a mandate to preserve Jamaica’s culture and heritage.

“We do the celebrations to ensure that the generations that are coming up will continue to know who we are as a people and to preserve who we are as Jamaicans,” she said.

On Thursday, September 14, there will be readings of Miss Lou’s poems to students at the St. Catherine and Spanish Town primary schools, and the Port Antonio Primary School in Portland will host a Miss Lou concert featuring storytelling, stand-up comedy, dialect and dub-poetry.

The Hanover Parish Library in Lucea will host a Miss Lou lunch hour concert and bandana competition on September 21 at 1:00 p.m.

The St. Ann Parish Library in St. Ann’s Bay will also stage a bandana competition on September 22 at 1:00 p.m., which will be open to all educational institutions and community groups in the parish. Prizes will be awarded to the top three contestants.

Also on September 22, a bandana competition and concert will be held at the Sean Lavery Faith Hall in Savanna-La-Mar, Westmoreland, beginning at 11:00 am, which will feature a fashion show with Miss Lou costumes, performances of Miss Lou poems, storytelling and songs.

An event entitled, ‘Miss Lou Celebration: Readings and Performances of Miss Lou Works,’ will take place at the Trelawny Parish Library in Falmouth on September 26, beginning at 1:00 p.m.

The celebrations continue with a Miss Lou Dialect Competition and Awards ceremony at the JCDC Manchester Parish Office, Mandeville, on September 29, starting at 11:00 a.m.

Similar competitions will take place on that day at the JCDC’s Clarendon Parish Office at Brooks Avenue in May Pen, Clarendon and at the JCDC’s St. Elizabeth Parish Office, Shop #45, Santa Plaza, Santa Cruz, commencing at noon and 1:00 p.m., respectively.