Jerk Festivals
I stumbled upon the Hanover Jerk Festival by accident after meeting a couple locals in Negril. These guys I met at a nightclub one night invited me to the town of Lucea for the festival the next night. Of course I say YES! I would have never known about it otherwise, and after seeing that I was the only foreigner there, apparently not many tourists know about it.
Lucea is about a 40 minute drive from Negril and we arrived at the festival around 11pm. It was already packed – unusual because the nightlife in Jamaica doesn’t typically start til after midnight. It was being held at a school in Lucea and cost me $500 J (approx $7) admission.
Immediately inside the gates there were a bunch of tables and barbeques set up where I assume they were serving various Jamaican Jerk dishes. I had already eaten so unfortunately I never sampled any of the food.
Even though this was a food festival, much like everything in Jamaica, the whole thing was pretty much centered on the entertainment instead. The stage show was situated in the schoolyard where hundreds of Jamaicans were gathered with rum in hand and blowtorches ready to ignite (see Reggae Sumfest post for blowtorch info). It was nice to see that there were both adults and children present.
The majority of the stage show was focused on the Digicel Rising Star 2008 competitors and I was pleasantly surprised at the young talent Jamaica has to offer. They showcased groups and solo artists alike, and the final Rising Star act was the winner of the 2008 season, Cameal Davis. She’s pretty awesome.
In between the Rising Star performances, several Jamaican dance groups were showcased as well. This is always my favorite thing to see in Jamaica, the dancers are top-notch! This group was my favorite; I didn’t catch the name of them.
The surprise guest at the end of the night, who alone, was WORTH my $500 J, was Jamaican music legend Ninja Man. I was totally not expecting to see a big artist appearance and it made my night complete! His show was awesome as he was inviting young Jamaican MC’s up on stage to battle him. It was hilarious and fully entertaining.
The last shock of the night was that the festival ended rather early by Jamaican standards. I think we were out of there by 2:30am, and I was back to Negril and in bed by 3:30.
Comments
13 responses to “Hanover Jerk Festival – Lucea, Jamaica”
[…] Jerk is a style of cooking native to Jamaica in which meats are dry-rubbed with a very hot spice mixture called Jamaican jerk spice. Jerk also gives Jamaicans another reason to party under the disguise of Jerk Festivals. […]
Hi. These videos are goood. Carmeal Davies is a great singer. The videos certainly does enhance your blog. It gives the feeling of actually being there.
I’ve been to Jamaica myself twice and thoroughly enjoyed the experiences especially the madness of the mini bus rides!!
Wow. This post is superb. I just decided to start a blog about Jamiaca and I came accross yours. I LUV IT. keep up the good work, I will be sure to check in from time to time.
P.S I grew up in negril and lucea and I went to the school where the jerk festival was held. I swear that I know that shack were the food was being cooked too….lol. Small world indeed.
Love Lucea, mi deh tell yuh.
Thanks for showing appriciation of one of the best place to grow up in Jamaica in my time, I know.
View my site and learn more about Lucea.
I WAS THERE!!!! A really great night and Ninjaman was the highlight who got the crowd going with his performance.
Cameal Davis is a great singer and is still going strong.
My good friend Jahvante Campbell was also there.
We sampled the food which was the best but that night at Ruseas High School was a definite night to remember..
If my memory serves me right the dancers are a group called Khalil who were also Rising Star contestants and were stuck in Lucea after the show because they couldn’t get a ride back to Mobay!
I took pictures but I’m not sure if I can upload them because it was on phone I’m not using anymore.
Thanks for posting this blog it was a great night.
Looking back at the video it wasn’t Khalil who were dancing but Sweep. Khalil were there…..sorry for the error..
Hey Jammie! This looks great Ive never been but funnily enough when I went to the ‘Across the Harbour’ event in Lucea a while back one of my main draws for going was because Mr Vegas was going to be performing and Vegas is my FAVOURITE. Also once while in JA they were havingsome kind of music thing in Elgin Town on the Ball ground and Movado was going to be there so all in all the artists seem very willing to come to Lucea! Unfortunately my flight was due BEFORE the event. Dang!
Oh by the way what time of yr was this held?
I do believe it was in July because I was in JA for Sumfest on this trip (I think).
Love this picture of lucea in the post, its nice to be there some time again
i was born and grown up in lucea .to me lucea is teh best place in the world to me. i will be home to stay some day.LEM…..