Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

A patron shows her love for the music at a recent Heineken Good Times -Colin Hamilton/Freelance photographer

The popular retro-party series Good Times is planning to make its debut in Florida soon.

Having started in Kingston 12 years ago as a premier oldies party, Good Times has gained a steady crowd of eager and loyal patrons. Staged three to four times a year in Kingston, the Good Times series has moved to other parishes such as Ocho Rios, Montego Bay and Mandeville and now plans to expand outside Jamaica.

According Jerome Hamilton, the promoter of Good Times, the popular party will be heading to South Florida in October for its first staging outside Jamaica. "Based on popular demand and also to spread Brand Jamaica we have decided to take the party to Florida which will hopefully be the first step to a number of expansions," Hamilton told The Gleaner recently.

New markets

Florida is the first targeted party scene as the promoters plan to eventually host Good Times parties in New York and Barbados.

"We're quite excited from the response from two of the possible targeted venues and we hope that this will be a successful step for the Good Times brand Internationally. South Florida has a fair concentration of Jamaicans and we expect them to turn out," Hamilton said.

He further explained that he has seen retro events staged in Atlanta, New York and Cayman under the name 'Good Times' that have experienced great success.

Determined to make the Good Times saga in Florida as authentically Jamaican as possible, the promoters will be looking for the Jamaican crowd to come out and bring friends to introduce to the brand as well as to keep the music and sponsors Jamaican.

Local sponsors

According to Hamilton they are looking for two of the best Jamaican disc jockeys for the opening party as well as local Jamaican sponsors to be part of the experience.

The music will continue to be a good mix of 80s/90s dancehall, reggae, disco and soca.

Locally, the next Good Times at the Mas Camp Village on Saturday, May 31, will be seeing a little of the Florida-Jamaica connection. For the first time, a foreign disc jockey will be playing at the local event.

However, Hamilton guarantees that next weekend's Good Times dubbed 'Pump Up the Jam' will maintain the series quality of excellence as the promoters expand on making the party experience better.