Trelawny Yam Festival Falmouth Attractions, Trelawny Jamaica

Trelawny

Trelawny Yam Festival is on 25 Apr 2011, Albert Town, Jamaica

The yam is one of Jamaica's most popular ground provisions. It can be found in a many of the traditional, local dishes and soups, and this event, which celebrates that yam, attracts thousands of Jamaicans. The festival is on Easter Monday and includes activities such as the Yam By–Product Competition for schools and the Culinary Competition and Demonstration with illustrations of the creative uses of yam by community members, students and professiolna chefs.

The Trelawny Yam Festival was an idea derived from community members in 1997 as a way of raising funds to support the local community and STEA. With a community support base and with the planning ability of STEA the Trelawny Yam Festival was born with the intention of celebrating yam, the food that is so important to the livelihoods of the people of south Trelawny. The Festival started small and has grown in attractions and patronage over the years. As the Festival has grown the original venue of Albert Town High School became too small to host the thriving Festival.

The STEA planning committee looked long and hard for an appropriate venue but was forced to move the Festival to the streets of Albert Town. This quiet mountain village came alive with festivities Easter Monday of 2003 when the Trelawny Yam Festival was held on its streets for the first time. Since then the Festival has continued to grow and in 2004 a record 18,000 people came to enjoy the largest Yam Festival staged thus far. Although the feature of the Trelawny Yam Festival is the celebration of the culture of Trelawny and its main crop yam, the Festival has many different exciting activities and competitions for people ranging from young children to senior citizens.

Yams aren't the prettiest of vegetables; they're used in a similar fashion to sweet potatoes and take the form of an oddly shaped oblong. However, this doesn't stop the locals holding a festival in the yam's honour, something that may seem strange at first but is actually perfectly sensible.

Yams are apparently as versatile as the humble shrimp and can be used in a variety of dishes. This makes them more popular than Jamaican jerk chicken dishes and the Trelawny Yam Festival aims to show visitors why this is the case.

You can try yam punch, yam wine, yam buns, yam puddings and pretty much yam everything at the many food stalls at this event.

Open Hours 10 am – 6 pm