NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (May 07, 2019) — Mr. John Hanley, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism expressed satisfaction with the public’s support of the Jessups Seafood Fiesta Monday May 06, 2019 hosted by the Jessups Community Development Group.

The tourism official made the comment during the event which formed part of the calendar of activities for the ministry’s ongoing Exposition Nevis 2019 with this year’s theme “Celebrating Nevis’ Tourism through Festivals.”

“I am very satisfied with the turn out this year at the Jessups Seafood Fiesta. This is one of the events that the Ministry of Tourism has always endorsed since we began our Exposition Nevis month of activities.

“We endorse this event because it encapsulates the heart and soul of community-based tourism where a particular event is owned and managed by the local community,” he said.

Mr. Hanley commended the organisers and indicated that the ministry is in full support of what he describes as a community based tourism affair. The event was established six years ago by the Jessups Community Development Group, in an effort to revive the then fading community spirit in the fishing village.

“We are pleased to see the wide variety of foods that we have here. I like the fried fish. I like the fried gar, especially and all those other things that mother used to cook. The turn corn and all the good hearty ground provisions, those are the kind of things that people reminisce on, and every year they [public] look forward to the Jessups Seafood Fiesta.

“So I wish the Jessups community… all the very best as they go forward with this. The Ministry of Tourism has been helping a lot with the promotion of this event along with other agencies of course, and definitely we have seen some greater response from the hotels. They have been putting up fliers via their activities desk and we have in fact seen a number of tourists coming here and of course, local persons. You can’t take the fish away from them,” he said.

The menus included fried local fish – marlin, shark, congo, lionfish, ballahoo and gar, conch water, coconut dumplings steamed vegetables, boiled pumpkin, cassava, breadfruit and green banana.