<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some 12 million dollars will be spent this year to stage\nthe inaugural Western Gala in observance of Emancipation and Independence\ncelebrations.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The activities, set\nto rival those in Kingston will mark the commencement of the inaugural Western\nGala, which will expand to become an annual occurrence, not unlike the grand\ngala held in Kingston annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The joint\nEmancipation\/Independence celebrations, slated for the western region of Jamaica,\nwere launched officially on Thursday, July 25, at a ceremony held in Sam Sharpe\nSquare, Montego Bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ceremony\npreceded the announcement of the sequence of activities slated for the Western\nJamaica celebrations. Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports,\nOliva Grange, outlined the sequence of events that will occur, beginning with\nthe vigil on July 31. First on the agenda is an event for Wednesday, July 31,\nwhich is an emancipation parish vigil commencing at 8 p.m. in the Sam Sharpe Square.\nOn Thursday, August 1, a kiddies\u2019 village will be held at the Catherine Hall\nEntertainment Complex at 10 a.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On Friday, August 2,\na culture talks special, featuring drummers will occur and the kiddies\u2019 village\nwill continue. A gospel fest commencing at 7 p.m. will also occur on that day.\nOn Sunday, August 4, an Independence Thanksgiving service will be held in the\nBethel Baptist Church located in Chatham, St. James. The Western Gala will also\noccur later that day. On Tuesday, August 6, an Independence Civic Ceremony will\nbe held and an Independence float parade will also be on display. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister Grange\nasserted that this inaugural staging of the Western Gala will be the start of\nmany to come, and was emphatic in her declaration of the importance of\nexpanding the annual Emancipation\/Independence celebrations to Western Jamaica.\n\u201cI\u2019m delighted to be here with you in Montego Bay tonight to launch the Western\nIndependence Village and the Western Gala. We have heard it said so often that\nKingston is not Jamaica and we know this is true. That is why we are leading by\nexample and ensuring our citizens in Western Jamaica are able to enjoy the best\nof Jamaican culture, just as the folks in Kingston do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n ADEQUATE FUNDING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has\nallocated $10 million under its auspices to the successful staging of the\nWestern Gala. An additional $2 million donation came from the Minister of\nNational Security, Horace Chang. This $12 million endowment was entirely\ndedicated to the Western Gala and Minister Grange was adamant that the funding\nopportunities provided are sufficient to launch the celebrations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIndeed, Western\nJamaica has produced some great cultural icons. The theme for celebrations this\nyear\u2014our 57th<\/sup> year of Independence\u2014is \u201cOne Nation, One People\u201d and it\nspeaks to the diversity in our country. To add to that, our fashion theme is\nroots and culture. This means that for Independence, you can dress up in\nwhatever you consider your roots and culture,\u201d Grange added. \u201cThe government of\nJamaica has committed to spending 12 million dollars to make the Western Gala\nspectacular, through the kind contribution of 2 million dollars from Dr. Horace\nChang and 10 million dollars from the government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The gospel festival\nand other events slated for the Western Gala will feature a lineup of several\nsterling recording artistes. The likes of Eric Donaldson, Chi Ching Ching,\nProfessor Nuts, Ernie Smith, Luciano and more, will display their talents\nduring the gala. This is all part of the government\u2019s effort to promote inclusivity\nand expand the scope of operations from the Corporate Area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe will have, for the first time, a fantastic fireworks display. We believe that Western Jamaica is worthy of this level of attention, of having your own celebrations,\u201d Grange affirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rashaun Stewart<\/em><\/strong> – Summer Intern<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some 12 million dollars will be spent this year to stage the inaugural Western Gala in observance of Emancipation and Independence celebrations.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1438,1439,21,1174,1437,30],"class_list":["post-2620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-emancipation-independence","tag-independence","tag-jamaica","tag-kingston","tag-western-gala","tag-western-jamaica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2620"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2626,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2620\/revisions\/2626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}