Yam festival promises to be a fun-filled day
Published:Saturday | April 9, 2011 | 12:00 AM
ALBERT TOWN, Trelawny: THOUSANDS OF Jamaicans are expected to converge on the square of Albert Town for the 11th staging of the Trelawny Yam Festival on Easter Monday.
Jamaicans will be treated to at least 30 different ways of preparing yam, including appetizers and savouries, sauces and dips, breads and desserts, drinks and main dishes, all available for consumption. Many attendees in the past confessed to having been drawn to the event primarily because of the cuisine of this popular stem tuber.
Other attractions include a yam market, a culinary competition, and cultural presentations, including a special guest artiste, music and all-day giveaways. Traffic will be diverted to facilitate the activity.
The event was started 14 years ago, but this month's event will be the 11th staging.
There will be several activities leading up to the event. The Yam Queen Pageant will be held on April 21 at Albert Town High School. This will showcase the ladies' talent and cultural awareness, knowledge of yam production, history and geography of the parish, economic potential of Trelawny, and environmental issues.
Ten contestants were selected from a number of applicants who will undergo a month-long grooming and training session on poise, speech, diction, local-awareness issues, general environmental and parish facts, yam, and yam-cultivation issues.
environmental project
This year, for the first time, contestants will undertake an environmental project that will see the pageant having a more lasting impact beyond the staging of the festival. The project will take the form of an environmental symposium for basic schools and early childhood institutions in Trelawny.
Other activities leading up to the event include the 50K cycle race, which starts in Falmouth, winds through the Cockpit Country communities of Sawyers, Mahogany Hall, Ulster Spring, and ends in Albert Town. This event is to be held on April 24.
Up to 18 different varieties of yam are cultivated in Jamaica. Many of these varieties are grown in the parish of Trelawny, with the most popular being the yellow yam.
The Southern Trelawny Environ-ment Agency said 60 per cent of the nation's produce of this tuber is from the host parish. Trelawny also accounts for approximately 50 per cent of total export. Most of this ends up on the tables of West Indian communities in the United States, Canada, and England. It provides major employment in the southern belt.