Maroon fest first-timer thrilled by experience
Published:Friday | January 6, 2023 | 1:46 PM
Scores of maroons and other persons have descended on St Elizabeth for the annual Accompong Maroon festival.
The Maroons are celebrating 285 years of the signing of the peace treaty with the British.
The event is seeing many first-timers including Karen Harris who said she had to make the journey to experience the festival.
Harris told The Gleaner that she first learned about the Maroon festival in Accompong last year after reading reports about several people being shot and injured there.
Intrigued, the 58-year-old who has resided in Canada for the past 33 years started making plans to attend its next staging.
"Mi seh mi a come come see what it's like. Mi neva know something like dat deh a Jamaica," she said.
Harris along with relatives started the journey to the Maroon settlement in St Elizabeth from their Zadie Gardens home in St Andrew at 3 o'clock this morning.
And after stocking up on fresh ground provisions available for sale and interacting with some locals, she is more than happy she made the trip.
But, there is one thing that would make the experience complete.
Harris, who is confined to a wheelchair, hopes that she will get to meet the chief of the Accompong Maroons, Richard Currie.
"I would love to see him. To know he supports and owns a place to himself...," she said.
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