Lo­cal and for­eign en­thu­si­asts of jazz, tur­tle watch­ing and movies are in for a treat at this week­end’s North Coast Jazz Fes­ti­val, co-spon­sored by the Min­istry of Tourism.

The event is be­ing host­ed by the Blan­chisseuse Com­mu­ni­ty Coun­cil and LJMJ Pro­mo­tions from to­day to Sun­day.

Speak­ing on the event, now in its third year, Tourism Min­is­ter Ho­n­ourable Ran­dall Mitchell said, “North Coast Jazz and sim­i­lar ini­tia­tives are fa­cil­i­tat­ed un­der the Min­istry’s Com­mu­ni­ty-Based Tourism Pol­i­cy, which en­cour­ages and pro­motes lo­cal tourism events through­out the coun­try.”

He said such events, not on­ly at­tract tourists from all parts of the coun­try, but al­so en­cour­age and pro­mote eco­nom­ic ac­tiv­i­ty and stim­u­late the over­all im­prove­ment of the re­spec­tive com­mu­ni­ties.

Mitchell said, “North Coast Jazz is grow­ing and con­tin­ues to be a pos­i­tive ad­di­tion to our tourism of­fer­ings.”

He said more peo­ple are ex­pect­ed to at­tend this year’s fes­ti­val, not on­ly to be en­ter­tained, but al­so to par­tic­i­pate in tur­tle-watch­ing, camp­ing, hik­ing and oth­er sight-see­ing ac­tiv­i­ties.

The Tourism Min­is­ter added: “There is al­so a grow­ing bed and break­fast in­dus­try in the Blan­chisseuse com­mu­ni­ty as more res­i­dents are mak­ing their homes avail­able to vis­i­tors dur­ing the fes­ti­val week­end.”

Ac­cord­ing to Mitchell, shop own­ers and oth­er small en­tre­pre­neurs are ex­pect­ed to ben­e­fit eco­nom­i­cal­ly from the sale of lo­cal cui­sine and craft dur­ing the event.

To­day, pa­trons will view a movie at Sir Solomon Ho­choy Park, Blan­chisseuse and lat­er par­tic­i­pate in tur­tle watch­ing.

To­morow is Jazz Night and they will be en­ter­tained by lo­cal artistes at Sir Solomon Ho­choy Park. The fes­ti­val con­cludes with a brunch on Sun­day.