- CONTRIBUTED
Horace Peterkin (right), president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association yielded to the temptation of Caymanas Track Limited's Milicent Lynch dressed to thrill at the JAPEX party.
Janet Silvera, Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
A BAND of pirates, including Calico Jack and Ann Bonney, served glasses of a special pirate's concoction to guests at the fabulous final night party of the Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) on Monday night.
The entrance to the Negril Escape Resort and Spa (formerly Mariner's Inn) was completely transformed into a haven for wealthy plunderers, adorned to the nines with cutlasses, eye patches along with their female counterparts.
Tom Martin, owner of Pirate's Cove played Calico Jack, while Tourism Product Development Company's Ann Reader was Ann Bonney and Couple's Negril's Karen Lannigan was the other marauding female.
FIT FOR PIRATES
The three had their loot, mainly gold coins, lining the pathway all the way towards the grand feast which was set up for the 600 delegates who witnessed Negril's ingenuity.
The large and small hotels spared nothing, combining their efforts and presenting a culinary delight fit for pirates.
Everything from roasted fish, seafood pasta, jerked chicken, fish, and pork, an assortment of shrimp, scallops and salmon satiated the palates. A wine bar, a typical Jamaican rum bar, and a huge catamaran anchored off-shore, looking so much like the 'Black Pearl of the Caribbean' complemented the magnificent scene.
Not easily satisfied, the organisers kicked off the event with a scene that saw Calico Jack in a fight with a pirate who had crashed the party.
Of course, as in the old days, the intruder was chased and forced to walk the treacherous plank.
As if this was not enough, the Clifton Reader-led team presented the icing on the cake the Bare Essentials Band.
KUDOS
"If we didn't turn off the band, people would still be there dancing," said Clifton Reader, chairman of the JAPEX social functions and general manager of Beaches Negril.
Kudos to Ricardo Bowleg, Charlene Williams, Courtney Miller, Steve Simpson, Evelyn Smith, Alison Sutherland and Nordia Gibbs who created the magic.
