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Miss Lou Square a tourist attraction

Published:Wednesday | September 18, 2019 | 12:13 AMPaul H. Williams - Hospitality Jamaica Writer
A wide-angled shot of Gordon Town Square in St Andrew, soon to be renamed Miss Lou Square.
Paul Williams
A wide-angled shot of Gordon Town Square in St Andrew, soon to be renamed Miss Lou Square.

In his address at the ­unveiling of Miss Lou’s statue in Gordon Town Square last September, Prime Minister Andrew Holness told the ­gathering that the Government would be making Kingston a port of call for cruise ships.

“Returning cruise ships to Port Royal, and Victoria Pier (downtown Kingston),” he stated then, pointing out that tourists will not just want to see the Bob Marley statue, and the Institute of Jamaica, and all the other places.

“They are going to come right here in Gordon Town.” He also said the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation(KSAMC) would be “making the ­appropriate changes to uplift the built ­environment in the area”, and that the mayor of Kingston and St Andrew already had the funds for the upgrade.

One year later, on Sunday, September 8, at a civic ceremony in the said square to commemorate the cultural icon’s centenary, the prime minister declared that the name of the square would be legally changed to Louise Bennett-Coverley Square. The following Tuesday, the KSAMC approved a resolute for the name change.

But even before the resolution was passed, the historic town had gotten a facelift, and there are some infrastructural changes, including the placement of protective ­columns around the statue, the paving of the road around it with stones, the painting of the building fronts with black, gold and green, and the establishment of murals. A plaque outlining the name change will be mounted eventually.

That Sunday, the prime minister implored the Ministry of Culture and the KSAMC to collaborate with property owners in the square to develop the area as an attraction for locals and overseas visitors. Miss Lou lived in the Gordon Town area for many years and had ­contributed to its development.

Long regarded as Jamaica’s most prolific cultural icon, the Miss Lou migrated to Canada in her later years. She died there in 2006 but was brought home to be buried in National Heroes Park. Now, she has her own square in which her larger-than-life status is represented by her own likeness.