Labour Day Weekend Festivals - Pineapple & Conch

Tourism Manager Governor's Harbour Speaking At Gregory Town Pineapple Festival Opening 2008

North and South Eleuthera came alive over the Labour Day holiday weekend, with the rejuvenated Pineapple Festival in Gregory Town and the down home flavoured Deep Creek Conch Festival.

The launch of The Eleutheran newspaper led off the Official opening of the 21st Pineapple Festival in Gregory Town Friday night, followed by opening remarks and welcomes from Gary Knowles, Senior Island Administrator, the Hon. Alvin Smith, member of parliament for North Eleuthera and Hon. Speaker of the House of Assembly, the Hon. Neko Grant, representative of Lucaya and Minister of Tourism and Aviation. Mr. Ron Rose, Executive Director of the Jensen Beach, Florida Chamber of Commerce and Organizer with the Jensen Beach Pineapple Festival, accompanied by Bill West, a fellow Chamber member, represented Gregory Town's sister town of Jensen Beach and brought warm words of continued fellowship between the two towns and Pineapple Festivals.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation, Mr. Archie Nairn and Mrs. Nairn as well as Eleuthera's newly appointed Police Superintendent Cunningham were also in attendance. Local Ministry of Tourism officials, Ms. Jacqueline Gibson, Manager and Ms. Glenda Johnson did a remarkable job of coordinating the evening's events.

It was the 21st year of the Gregory Town Pineapple Fest, which in the past few years experienced challenges, however, the successful Opening Night on Friday was followed by an even bigger event filled Saturday night. It was capped off with a quiet end on Sunday, dubbed Community Day.

With much less official fan fare but no less flavour, the Deep Creek Conch Festival got on the way from Wednesday, June 4 and by Friday evening it was in full swing with what organizers described as a cultural feast of fashion and pageantry, they wished all Bahamians had had an opportunity to observe. The Eleutheran pledged to be there to bring it all to the public for future events.

Officials at the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Gregory Town Pineapple Festival

We were able to join the Conch Festival on Saturday taking the opportunity to explore the variety of food and game stalls, enjoy the music and cultural fashion. We had the privilege of being escorted around the Festival stalls by Little Miss Deep Creek winner 2008, Ms. Monalisa Brown. A very well spoken Ms. Brown, when asked what made her stand out amongst the other 9 contestants, replied, "I did my junkanoo talent very well and I answered my questions and I did good...I kept smiling". Adding to the atmosphere were dozens of Island School students, who took part in sports, artifact and research presentations.

Our - shared coverage is outlined in a brief photo display, bringing a sampling of the both events, over 60 miles apart.