KRISTY RAM­NAR­INE

kristy.ram­nar­ine@cnc3.co.tt

The Blan­chisseuse Com­mu­ni­ty Coun­cil wants to turn its vil­lage in­to a pre­mière tourist des­ti­na­tion.

They are hop­ing to do so by show­ing ex­act­ly what the pic­turesque coastal com­mu­ni­ty has to of­fer when the vil­lage hosts the North Coast Jazz & Her­itage Fes­ti­val at the Sir Solomon Ho­choy Park this week­end—May 26 to 28.

Sec­re­tary Pe­tra Le Quay put out an open in­vi­ta­tion to cit­i­zens via video on the event’s Face­book page.

“Did you know while you are here you can take a boat to Paria Bay and spend time at the beach or wa­ter­fall? Do you know you could kayak the Mar­i­anne Riv­er or hike to our fa­mous Three Pools? Did you know that there is tur­tle watch­ing?” She asked.

“We hope our com­mu­ni­ty can be­come and sus­tain it­self as a recog­nised bed and break­fast des­ti­na­tion.”

Chair­man of the Fes­ti­val Com­mit­tee, Louis Lee Sing, said all sys­tems are a go for the event.

He said the Fes­ti­val Com­mit­tee was work­ing to­wards a cash-less event.

“We are work­ing with the In­ter De­vel­op­ment Bank to es­tab­lish a cash less en­vi­ron­ment,” he said.

“Bmo­bile be­came ex­cit­ed about the project and has pro­vid­ed a fair mea­sure of wire­less sys­tem. We are hop­ing to be 100 per cent cash less by 2024. In these times in terms of what is hap­pen­ing in the so­ci­ety it is safer,” he added.

Lee Sing said pa­trons who do not want to dri­ve to the venue can ei­ther utilise the Park and Ride or Buss It trans­port ser­vices be­ing of­fered.

“I must con­grat­u­late the Gen­er­al Man­ag­er Patrick Gomez and his team at PTSC,” Lee Sing said.

“They recog­nised that there was a weak­ness in our Park and Ride sys­tem where peo­ple from com­mu­ni­ties in south and east would have to dri­ve to the Port of Spain to park. They are of­fer­ing the same ser­vice with more con­ve­nience to those peo­ple to get to the venue.”

The Park and Ride ser­vice will be op­er­at­ed from the Pad­dock, Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah, Port- of- Spain, to the Fes­ti­val grounds, while the Bus It ser­vice will op­er­at­ed from Port- of- Spain at noon as well as San­gre Grande and Point Fortin at 11 am to the Fes­ti­val grounds.

Pa­trons in­ter­est­ed in util­is­ing the trans­port ser­vices be­ing of­fered by PTSC for the Jazz event on May 27, can call 623-2341 or email PTSC-Sales@ptsc.gov.tt

The fes­ti­val, which is in its fifth year, be­gins with a Movie Night to­day. The 2018 film, Hero di­rect­ed by Frances-Anne Solomon which tells of the life of late Caribbean war hero and judge Ul­ric Cross, will be shown.

The main event will then take place to­mor­row (Sat­ur­day) fea­tur­ing Mun­gal Patasar, Du­vone Stew­art, Stacey Sobers, Kris­son Joseph, Mar­va New­ton and clos­ing act is Brass 2 D World fea­tur­ing Su­per Blue and Ron­nie Mc In­tosh. Dean Williams Quar­tet re­turns as the event’s house band.

The fi­nal day of the fes­ti­val will be a fam­i­ly day for the com­mu­ni­ty.