- Contributed
Cathy Chin and her young son, Loen, were among those who came to enjoy sun, sea and literature at the Calabash International Literary Festival last May.
THE QUIET beauty of Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth, with its surprisingly inviting black sand beaches and gnarled wild tamarind trees, is the face of a community which is valiantly striving to better itself.
With a beautiful beach less travelled, Treasure Beach has been steadily marrying entertainment projects with its position as a tourist resort.
However, Treasure Beach is not interested in being the next Ocho Rios or Montego Bay with tourists dangling from the trees but with crumbling infrastructure. The town wants the nature of the entertainment to encourage community development. Jason Henzell of Jakes, Treasure Beach's most renowned guest house, noted that he agreed with using entertainment to grow the community's tourism product.
"I do (agree with using entertainment)," he said, "but at the same time I think the type of entertainment you do positions you in a certain way." He noted that the community is striving towards "low density, low impact" development, that is, events whose impact develops with time so that it does not overwhelm them.
BUSINESSMEN
Another of the area's businessmen, Corey South, reiterates this position. South, who manages Sunset Resort, noted that the aim is to keep events which can be handled so that the area remains unspoilt. Sunset Resort has 14 rooms and is planning to expand to 22 rooms. South noted that the hotel survives on its 75 per cent return guest rate.
Treasure Beach apparently does not simply want to develop the tourism product and leave the community behind, creating a space of splendour for visitors and squalor for the residents. Instead, the events organised in the area promote community tourism. Visitors are not merely asked to escape from life, but to be a part of the community's life and development.
So far, one of the most publicised events in the town by the sea is the Calabash International Literary Festival, which takes place annually, toward the end of May. The festival which, started in Jakes' backyard has spread out to take up much more of that space. The festival allows lovers of the word to escape from wherever they live and spend a few days by the beach. While there they can soak up some sun (or the rain, as in previous years before a sunny 2004) while basking in the glow of words from newly discovered and favoured authors.
Neither Calabash nor Treasure Beach has as yet tapped their full potential, nor the benefits of their union. At present, the community largely benefits from accommodation rental for the period, with later spin-offs. Henzell admits that as many of the guests do not want to wander from the festival grounds, they tend to eat at Jakes' Jack Sprat restaurant.
PRESS COVERAGE
The community also benefits from the impressive press coverage which Calabash gets. "I've never seen an event that the press loves more than Calabash," says Henzell. Along with extensive coverage in local media, Calabash has also found presence on Fox television network and in the New York Times. The festival was founded by Colin Channer, author of Satisfy My Soul and Waiting in Vain. The non-profit festival is organised by a group of directors, including scholar and poet Kwame Dawes and producer Justine Henzell.
South is also attempting to make an annual jazz festival one of the community's attractions. The event, attached to the Jamaica Ocho Rios Jazz Festival, was staged for the second time last July. South noted that though it was a great show it did not receive a good turnout. He admitted that may have been caused by the price, $700, being too high.
Though neither Calabash nor The South Coast Jazz Festival is quite a community endeavour, many of the events staged in Treasure Beach are. A visit to the Treasure Beach website quickly points you to the community-oriented nature, as it gives you a list of the various schools and community groups and how you can help.
Breds is one of the major community organisations working in Treasure Beach. The group gets its name from the shortening of bredren and so speaks to the idea of brotherhood. Breds was started in 1998 by Henzell and Aaron Laufer. Several of the events staged in Treasure Beach are organised by this group.
Breds' annual roster includes the Jakes Off-Road Triathlon, Jakes six-a-side Football Tournament and the Treasure Beach Hook 'N' Line Fishing Tournament. The triathlon takes place each October and involves a 500-metre ocean swim, a 25k mountain bike race and a 7k country run.
The events staged by Breds do more than get the community's name in the paper and bring participants to the area. The funds raised are used to seed Breds various projects. Several of these projects have surrounded the Sandy Bank Primary School. The group has allowed for expansion of the school's facilities including the creation of a computer lab, which serves to benefit both the school and wider community. Additionally, between 2001 and 2002, in conjunction with doctors from New York's Bellevue hospital, the group was trained in Emergency First Response, CPR, and water rescue. The Emergency Response Unit is manned by 27 volunteers. The doctors from Bellevue also donated an ambulance to the unit.
Another major project coming up for Breds and the rest of the community is the creation of a sports facility and skills training centre on 15 acres of land recently donated by the Government. It has also established a Treasure Beach Auditorium Fund to create a Town Hall, kitchen and infirmary complex at the Sandy Bank Primary school.
Several other groups operate in the area, including the Treasure Beach Women's Group, the Treasure Beach Citizen's Association and the Calabash Bay Fishermen's Co-operative. Though they stand alone, several of the larger events integrate the various groups.
The community seems to be a growing testament to the cumulative effect of 'one one cocoa'. As each event, whether sporting, literature or jazz, grows into its own, the quietly charming town by the sea shows that one event can a tourism destination make.
