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 white person 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.

Town of Lucea, Jamaica

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.