- WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
A model shows off a Jamaica Carnival costume at The Deck, Trafalgar Road, New Kingston, last February. The management plans for the venue to play a major role in entertainment during next year's Cricket World Cup.
Teino Evans, Staff Reporter
PLANS ARE being made ahead of next year's ICC Cricket World Cup to throw in some 'overtime' of music and food for the expected flood of tourists.
The event officially begins on Sunday, March 11, 2007, with the opening ceremony in Jamaica and will see matches spread across 12 stadiums in nine venues across the Caribbean, with the finals being played on Saturday, April 28, in Barbados.
GREAT VENUE
Among the region's venues for the World Cup are the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua and Barbuda; the 3Ws Oval in Barbados; the Providence Stadium in Guyana and the Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica .
Proprietors of entertainment hotspots and restaurants in Kingston are making plans, ranging from live concerts to the preparation of local cuisine, to give visitors a real taste of Jamaica.
"What we are doing now is linking with a lot of the live bands, even the smaller ones that have not been performing, because we bringing them back with a Tuesday Night Live at the Village Café," said Robert Collins, managing director of the Liguanea venue.
Collins says "when a lot of these tourists come they are going to want to hear live reggae music every night, because they can't come to the reggae capital and not experience it.
"We are going to give them the real corporate setting, so they don't have to go down to the country to get anything. We going to give them a real taste of Jamaica."
Richard Spence, owner of The Deck on Trafalgar Road in New Kingston, says: "We will definitely hope to play a major role and we will be showing every match live, so we will be open for the first ball and every cricket day. Even with the football World Cup coming up, we will be using that to set the stage, showing it on big screen projector and we will have lunch every day and hopefully the exposure will set the stage for the Cricket World Cup."
ENTERTAINMENT PACKAGE
In addition, Spence says, "Next year we will also hike the entertainment because of the visitors, so we will be having some major entertainment packages."
Winston Watkis, manager of Weekenz Bar and Bistro on Constant Spring Road, says despite recently acquiring the establishment, he is making the necessary moves to get something in place for the Cricket World Cup.
"What we want to do is show the matches. We want to have the feed here, but getting that approved is like pulling teeth. They are asking for too much to beam it to me, but we are currently in negotiations," Watkis said.
Watkis says that if everything works in his favour he would "set up a big screen so persons can come and have a drink, sports bar scenario, while watching the match."
Not to be left out of this important innings is former international cricketer, fast bowler Courtney Walsh who represented the West Indies from 1984-2001, captaining the team in 22 Test matches and who broke Kapil Dev's record for most Test wickets in 2000.
Walsh's establishment, Cuddy'z Sports Bar and Restaurant in New Kingston, will undoubtedly attract not only the visitors but also his former teammates as well as cricketers from other countries. "Most of the times whenever cricketers are in town they come to visit at Cuddy'z," he said.
At least one is already a music lover, as former West Indies fast bowler and Walsh's good friend Curtley Ambrose plays in the band Dread and the Baldhead.
PLANNED EVENTS
Walsh says "a lot of people come to Cuddy'z just by word of mouth, but we gonna definitely plan events to attract people coming for the World Cup. We haven't fine-tuned any plans as yet, but we are in a lot of talks and just waiting to see if there are going to be any rules where what we are planning is concerned, because we don't want to break any of the rules. But we are definitely planning things to coincide with the World Cup."
Jeanelle Waddell, one of the restaurant managers at Cuddy'z, added: "There will be specials in place and we will feature foods from different teams that will be playing, presenting a mix of cuisines from the different regions, trying to bring out their culture while trying to enhance our local culture at the same time."
SHOWCASING CULTURE
Musicians will also be involved on an individual basis. Desi Young of the Jamaica Federation of Musicians (JFM) says some "are working with a number of entities that plan to use the opportunity to showcase the culture of the island, the music in particular. When the thing is of substance the various entities will come forward. I don't want to pre-empt anyone."
There are also a few calendar events that happen to fall during the period that will offer entertainment during the cricket down time. These include Mello Vibes, Heineken Good Times, Fun In The Son and events for the carnival season. However, at least one promoter is thinking of making adjustments in order to maximise on the opportunity.
"We would probably plan something for the semi-finals. If we don't have a new event then we would give some serious considerations to adjusting the date for Mello Vibes to coincide with the final match to be played in Jamaica ... Mello Vibes is usually held on the last Saturday in April.
"I think we were awarded with the opening ceremony and one of the semi-final matches," Roderick Reid told The Sunday Gleaner.
