Emancipation 2025

Jamaica's Emancipation Day is celebrated on the 1st August each year and I think, this is the first year I celebrated it outside of Jamaica. 

I couldn't find anything interesting to attend in Broward, Florida so when my friend Carol told me of a street session in the parking area at a Jamaican restaurant, I told her to pick me up.

Judy, Carol, Joan.

Sure glad I did, for if I didn't, I would never have met some interesting Jamaicans, the phenomenal one being Nesta Leeloo.

Nesta.

Omg, this lady is something else. She is 108 years old.

That's right 108 and her mind in 100% and the body? Well she doesn't even use a walking stick and was so pleasant to boot!

Actually, I had never heard of Butter Flakes Jamaican restaurant before, although in the past, I have visited the strip mall where it is located.

 But back to Miss Nesta.

She was born in Mandeville, Jamaica in 1917 and was Nesta Lewis, before getting married to a Trinidadian, hence the name Leeloo. They had eight children and so far, she has outlived three. 

Yup, and she still plays the piano and does crossword puzzles everyday. 

As she walked outside to where the DJ had set up the music, she started to jig!😊 Several hours later, at 10pm, when we were packing up to go, she looked like she wasn't going anywhere for the next few hours!

Miss Nesta is definitely now my new role model.😊.

It was a nice jam session with oldies reggae music, and we met quite a few other Jamaicans who had come out to eat, listen to good music and socialize.

We even met too ladies, Gail and Diana who drove all the way from West Palm Beach to attend, as they say they always enjoy the food and vibes there.

Gail and Diana. 

Yup. It was a nice evening. Not my usual Emancipation style celebration, but I enjoyed it, as variety is indeed the spice of life.

Gail, Judy, Carol, Joan 

Sumfest sell off

If the only act we saw on Saturday night at Reggae Sumfest was the Big Ship's performance, it would have been worth the money.❤️

L-R front: Coretta, Joan, Ruby. Back L-R: Lolita, Judi, Bernie 

Freddie and his sons were out of the world. Especially considering that the Captain, Freddie McGregor is just recovering from a stroke!

If you just heard the strong voice alone, you could never guess Freddie, had to remain seated while performing and that his left side is clearly still paralyzed.

But he was so professionally backed up by his sons Steven and Di genius, that the performance was just out of this world.

They were just awesome.

And guess who was in the backing band?

 None other but the great Dean Frazer himself!😍

And you couldn't stop Freddie. It was as if he was determined to belt out all his hits despite his struggles.

The crowd showered him with love.❤️

His voice broke as he stopped to  thank us for the love and prayers.

Lieutenant Stichie 

The segment honoring King Jammy was great too, as coming on stage were old time favorites such as Lieutenant Stichie, Tanya Stevens, Major Mackerel, Ricky Spice etc and they were all wonderful.

Ricky Spice

While I instructed my eyes to close only during band changes, they sold me out and I missed much of Morgan heritage, Romaine Virgo and Wayne Marshall.

At least they stayed open long enough for me to hear Gramps Morgan deliver 'people like me."

My eyelids let me down though😡. 

We were determined to stay to the end to see  Lady Saw now Pastor Marion Hall, who eventually came on after 6am. 

Tanya Stevens 

Captain of the Big Ship, Freddie McGregor.

In my book, Lady Saw is the winner as Pastor Hall, while retaining the energy, is just too preachy .

Lots of people seem to agree with my assessment as it was during her performance that many packed up and left.

 As the bible says, " out of evil cometh good". 

Well if the Palladium hotel was not such a moronic organization, ( more on that anon) we could not have made it to Reggae Sumfest this year.

The fact is,  we were scheduled to attend the grand finale of the family reunion there (more on that anon) but the lousy hotel reneged on the deal, so as we weren't staying there, we couldn't attend.

We went to Sumfest 's final night instead and that's the good that came out of their evil😡.

The family reunion Tshirt.

We were staying at Silver Sands.

L-R: Coretta, Judi, Joan, Bernie, Lolita.

Silver Sands beach is private and better anyway.

And what a night it was.😻🥰🙂😍.

Big up Sumfest 2023 and all the performers on the final night.