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Chairman of the Barbados Pork Festival, Chrispen Hackett.

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Jamal Hall of Bar Cutters enjoying one of Chef Creig Greenidge’s breadfruit pork bites while he takes a fresh batch off the fire.

Independence celebrations to kick off with Barbados Pork Festival

WHEN the Mount Gay Visitors Centre swings open its doors on November 2, locals and visitors alike will be allowed to run wild where their taste buds take them as they sample some of the best local fare during the inaugural Barbados Pork Festival. With offerings of everything from swine to iodine, patrons will be able to purchase a range of pork dishes such as jerk pork, pulled pork, suckling pig, and pudding and souse, to name a few, at what is being dubbed “The ultimate pork affair”.

During a launch that was hosted at Mount Gay’s Mighty Grynner Highway location on Wednesday night, Chairman of the festival, Chrispen Hackett, said that the time was more than ripe for this event after
it had been sitting on a shelf after being birthed ten years ago. Noting that this year was the Year of Festivals under the Caribbean Tourism Organisation as well as the Year of the Pig in the Chinese calendar, Hackett said that there was no better time to get a new series started.

“While this may seem like another lime, in fact it is the beginning of something huge, dynamic and transformative in Barbados from a cultural perspective and from a tourism perspective. We are planting the seeds for another flourishing festival where we showcase something that Barbadians love, but on a grand scale and in several different ways. Our goal is to develop this event into a two-day festival where people from all walks of life, visitors and families can enjoy a taste of Barbados in a relaxed atmosphere,” he said.

Set to get started at 11 a.m. and run till 8 p.m., the early bird will catch the worm as patrons will be able to tour the Mount Gay Distillery for free until 2 p.m. With offerings coming from Bar Cutters, Bearded Hogs, Golden Sands Hotel and Chef Creig, to name a few, there will also be something for those who prefer not to partake through the services of Street Eats.

Having conceptualised the idea of a pork festival ten years ago when she drafted a White Paper, Director of Tourism Development in the Ministry of Tourism and International Transport, Dr. Kerry Hall, also spoke during the launch and called pork a favourite past time of Barbadians and said that the island stood to gain a lot from this festival and others like it.

“There are many benefits to this component when you talk about food festivals or other forms of culinary tourism. What it does is increase visitor spend, it gives you an opportunity to create more things to do for travellers and that is what we are trying to do. Increased sales, increased tourist arrivals, it increases that multiplier effect to make sure that tourism dollar spreads out across the entire destination and throughout all the communities. And it also strengthens intersectoral linkages with agriculture. So it broadens the base and we bring about economic growth and everything that comes with it.”

Dr. Hall also went on to say that she was pleased that the initiative was taken to pull off an event like this and applauded the efforts of the organisers.

“Government can’t do everything and as we seek to reinvent our tourism product, we need things to do. We need new activities, new experiences. And if people are visiting to experience our culture, authentic immersive experiences, where they get into the DNA of the destination, I am very happy to see young Barbadian people coming out and actually taking the risk to put on an event. It helps our economy, it helps tourism and it really brings joy and pride to Barbadians as we celebrate who we are as a people and a nation,” she said. (MP)

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