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JUN 25

The Gouyave Fish Friday Festival Committee is holding its Fish Friday Festival trial run this Friday and says they are preparing an environment that is friendly, nice, and accommodating for patrons.

A senior member of the Committee George Vincent told reporters that the "Committee is a grouping of organisations in Gouyave that have come together to create a unique tourist activity in Gouyave call Fish Friday Festival."
According to Vincent, the aim is to make Gouyave the prime tourist attraction in the country.

He pointed out that the idea of Fish Friday is have bus loads of tourists and local residents come to Gouyave to enjoy a quality evening and get an opportunity to enjoy a wide variety of fish and sea foods. Vincent noted that although Gouyave is very famous for fish, people will go to the village for fish but will not get much variety or quality.

"We want to change that, and we want to make sure that it is safe, well organised, the fish is tasty, it is affordable and that our patrons leave satisfied, " he remarked.

To achieve this, the Committee has undertaken a ten day training programme for 29 potential vendors of cooked sea foods. The training dealt with customer service, food preparation and health and safety.

Persons who graduated from the training programme will be licensed through the Committee to vend at Fish Friday. Vincent said that vendors will not be able to vend without a license from the Committee.

He stated that the Committee has designated all of Gouyave to be a part of the festival, but most of the activities will be held at St. Francis Street and Chapel Lane. "There would be tents, where the vendors will vend from, water for washing hands, lights for security and seating for patrons", he added.

"We are preparing an environment that is friendly, nice, and accommodating on these streets for people to sit, eat, relax, and listen to relaxing, softer and entertaining music", he said.

Vincent disclosed that also on Fish Friday there will be local cultural activities held at the Gouyave Gas Station, where a stage will be erected. He said the group will be working with Professional Promotion Art Works also from that area, to prepare programmes for the cultural part of the Festival, which is aimed at enhancing and enriching Grenada's cultural heritage.

"Gouyave have talent... we got Kings and Queens, and trust me we are going to show case what we got," he emphasised. In addition, Fish Friday is also aimed at bringing business to the area.

Vincent said that they are offering spaces for rent to craft producers, agricultural producers, to sell items that they produce to the tourist who come to the Festival.

The Committee is collaborating with the Royal Grenada Police Force, (RGPF), Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Health and the Environment, and the Grenada Solid Waste Management Authority on the initiative.

He said that with the help of the police they hope to make the main streets "a no parking zone" and to get patrons to park their vehicles at the St.John's Anglican School yard for a small fee. Vincent told reporters that the Committee is also training tour guides to take people from the parking lot to visit the different sites.

Another activity planned for Fish Friday Festival is a back in time dance, he added. Vincent pointed out that the plan is to undertake a number of trial runs, before the official launch in August, because "we want to the do it properly." If this trial run is successful the Committee will hold activities at the beach side for people who want a beach seafront experience.

Fish Friday Festival is patterned after a similar activity being held in St. Lucia. Public Relation Officer of the Committee, Raphael Paul said that the trial run was originally planned for June 10 and 17 and the actual launch itself on June 24, but it had to be re-scheduled since they needed to have the committee properly established. and due to a lack of equipment.

Vincent said the committee has received support for the project from individuals in Gouyave, as well as the Government of Grenada, and Minister of Education Claris Charles who is the Member of Parliament for the St. John's constituency.

He urged native individuals from Gouyave, who have successful business in other parishes, to make a donation to enhancing and making Gouyave the prime tourist attraction in Grenada.