Denbigh - a fine product, badly managed

The Editor, Sir:

With eager enthusiasm, I took the journey to Denbigh and there were great directional signs from the major road to the venue. My enthusiasm began to wane when three minutes after leaving the last sign which said straight ahead to major entrances, we were faced with standstill traffic for 10 minutes and not knowing which way to proceed.

The choice of the lesser of two evils eventually led us to the gate six parking and entrance and after paying our $600 entrance fee, my girlfriend and I had a split second of guilt for having left the kids behind and depriving them of good cultural experience and family time out.

Wrong intuition

The first 20 minutes of arriving, Denbigh proved that my motherly intuition to leave the children behind was totally correct. The entire experience was chaotic. We persisted, however, both out of the desire to maximise the experience and the need to find a bathroom. After a half an hour of desperate searching we eventually found one designated for performing artistes and decided thereafter that the place was just too unpleasant to enjoy.

What has happened to the Denbigh of the past? With all the years of experience, the presentation has not improved but deteriorated, as there were:

• No available port-o-lets or accessible bathrooms;
  
• No directional signs on property (one indicating children's area);
  
• No organisation of products and live stocks by parish.

The intermingling of vendors and vehicular traffic was uncalled for and I was sorely disappointed. A fine Jamaican product, poorly managed.

A Shame

As a Jamaican with an interest in agriculture and an admiration of the efforts of the present minister, I take the liberty in asking, where were the managerial skills in the operation of such a potentially fine product? Is this indicative of where our priorities, or lack thereof, for agriculture are?

Shame on you, Jamaica Agricultural Society, for the poor presentation and for disappointing the many Jamaicans and sponsors who were forced to accept the hurdles of the chaotic presentation to showcase to Jamaicans and visitors the "best of Jamaica's agriculture".

My suggestion to any eager Jamaican or visitor who plans to visit the next Denbigh (should it be of this year's calibre) is to reserve your time and enthusiasm and visit the Kingston Coronation Market instead, where there is an array of agricultural products by parish in abundance, with only the livestock display missing but much better organisation and management.

I am, etc.,

JULIET WALLACE

julietwallace@hotmail.com

Stony Hill, St Andrew