Incident free Sumfest despite controversial acts

With the 25th staging of the annual reggae Sumfest festival coming to a close, organisers of the event are particularly pleased that they have had an incident free event.

With controversial artistes like Tommy Lee Sparta, Alkaline and Mavado performing at this year's event, there were concerns, but with extra measures in place to ensure the festival maintained its good reputation, organisers were pleased with the execution of the event.

In an interview with The Gleaner, Robert Russell says he is happy with the week's worth of activities and is already looking forward to next year.

"I feel good, it has been an amazing week. We've seen some great performances. Alkaline really took the park by storm. I haven't seen him in quite some time and he has grown so much that he really blew everybody away," Russell said hitting back at the critics who were sceptical about Alkaline's ability to deliver. "The festival is all about greatness; great performances, great food, great Red Stripe beer and great camaraderie."

Speaking of great camaraderie, Russell also said that despite talks that feuding factions were being booked for the same event, he had no doubt that the artistes would show maturity.

"Sumfest has always had very strong security and that is one of the reasons why we've always had an incident free Sumfest, because people realise that they cannot bring no 'badness to the Sumfest stage. We are a positive festival, I mean we had Dancehall Night with no incidents and the park was full and that says that what you're doing is right."