Hanover gearing up to end 300th anniversary celebrations with a bang

WESTERN BUREAU:

Organisers of the Hanover 300th anniversary celebrations are gearing up to close off the year of activities with a bang with the events slated for November – the celebration’s final month.

Andria Dehaney-Grant, deputy mayor of Lucea and co-chair of the Hanover 300 Planning Committee, told The Gleaner that notwithstanding the fact that some of the events which were slated to take place earlier in the year did not materialise, the committee remains undaunted in its bid to end the year of celebrations in fine style.

In December 2022, a special anniversary committee was established to plan and implement a series of events spanning November 2023 to November 2024, officially designated to mark the period in which Hanover became a parish 300 years ago.

According to Dehaney-Grant, the first event for November will be the Hanover Main Street Festival, which will be staged by the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) in collaboration with the Hanover branch of the Social Development Commission (SDC) on Friday, November 1. The event will be staged within the town square of Lucea. Several government and non-governmental agencies are expected to participate.

That event, which was recently added to the list of activities for the Hanover 300 celebrations, will be a two-fold affair. According to Lucea Mayor Sheridan Samuels, in addition to being a celebratory event, it will also be used to create an economic platform for vendors who suffered losses in the fire at the Lucea Market recently.

“It will be used as a local economic initiative to benefit as many small business operations within the parish as possible, also with a view to assisting those who suffered losses during the recent Lucea Market (Sunlight Arcade) fire,” Samuels told The Gleaner. “The SDC will be providing all legitimate vendors who suffered losses during the fire with free tent space to vend, while the HMC will be waving all vending licence, parking and advertising fees payable by these vendors to facilitate the day’s activities.”

In declaring the Hanover 300 celebrations “alive and well”, he also spoke to the addition of a celebrity cook-off, which has been added to the list of activities for the Main Street Festival.

Dehaney-Grant shared that an essay competition,’ which is now in progress in high schools across the parish, and a major awards banquet are among the events slated to bring the curtain down on the celebrations.

“We are in dialogue with the Princess Hotel for the staging of the banquet, so the date will be announced soon,” said Dehaney-Grant. “We are looking to have former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, and former Governor General Sir Kenneth Hall, who both have roots in the parish, to be patrons at the awards banquet.”

Dehaney-Grant said that before the celebrations move into its closing banquet, plans are in place for the staging of the Best Community Competition, where the nominees will be based on the recommendation of the respective councillors, and the staging of the Mini Miss Hanover Municipal Corporation Competition.