LOUISE Bennett-Coverley returned from her Canadian “exile” yesterday, and only a Miss Lou word could describe how she felt about the welcome — boonoonoonoos.

Miss Lou, a Jamaican cultural icon, who has been living in Canada since the 1980s, was brought home by the Jamaican Government as a special guest for the Emancipation/Independence celebrations, starting Friday.

Yesterday she was greeted at Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport by Government, Opposition and city officials, hundreds of cheering fans, singers and dancers performing cultural items.

“Of all the other places I’ve ever been to, this is the most boonoonoonoos welcome I’ve ever had!” an elated Miss Lou declared to a large crowd eager and jostling to get a glimpse of her.

During her stay, she will be inducted as a Fellow of the Institute of Jamaica, and will be presented with a medal of honour for her contribution to Jamaica’s culture and folklore.

Yesterday, however, there were no official honours, just the glowing admiration of young and old Jamaicans who waited for hours in the midday sun to cheer their favourite personality.

“She is truly a Jamaican ambassador, see, she gone to Canada and still holding our flag high,” said Sherell York, one of the many Island Grill employees that slipped away from their posts to see Miss Lou.

“She should come back home every year because we need her now more than ever. We need more culture and we need people like her to pass on the baton and to keep the culture going,” York’s colleague added, relating several animated anecdotes about his experiences with Miss Lou, mainly associated with the popular Saturday morning television show Ring Ding.

Most of the younger onlookers were born long after Miss Lou left Jamaica, but even without ever seeing her in person, were awed by the opportunity to greet the woman they had heard so much about.

“I’m excited, I know a lot of her poems and songs, and it will be good to see her in person,” said Traceyann Gordon, one of the students from Clonmel Primary and Junior High who performed the quadrille inside the immigration hall.

Departing passengers such as Wayne Daley, on his way to Atlanta in the United States, were glad to be inside so that they too could join the excitement, and many left the long check-in queues to watch her pass by.

“As a youth growing up, I used to watch her on Ring Ding, and now, anything to do with Jamaican culture she is the first personality I think of. She is truly a Jamaican icon,” he said.

Miss Lou’s official greeting party included Information Minister Burchell Whiteman; Wykeham McNeill, state minister in the Ministry of Tourism; Desmond McKenzie, the mayor of Kingston, and Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, Opposition spokesperson on information and culture, who represented the Opposition Leader Edward Seaga.

Old friends Vivian Crawford of the Institute of Jamaica and Jamaican theatre stalwart, Wycliff Bennett were also on the tarmac to greet Miss Lou, who, in true form, insisted on being wheeled close to the waving gallery to recognise and wave to the hundreds of fans gathered there, waving flags and cheering.

Once inside the airport, Miss Lou was feted by a small mento band, the Kingston Drummers, the Carifolk Singers, and students of the Clonmel Primary School, each of whom delivered a different version of the folk song Long time gal mi neva see yuh. During the performances, Miss Lou could scarcely contain her glee, clapping and singing along with the music.

But nothing could have prepared her for the greeting she received outside, when ordinary people rushed to snap photos or just to witness the historic occasion. Just outside the immigration hall, the performance of members of the Ashe Performing Arts Ensemble and the size of the crowd moved Miss Lou close to tears, as the ensemble delivered a rousing rendition of Tina Turner’s Simply the Best.

While Miss Lou and entourage were being whisked away from the airport, another group began forming by the Harbour View roundabout, where placard bearing teachers and students of the Harbour View Primary School set up a makeshift stage complete with sound system and waited anxiously to perform long-rehearsed songs and poems.

“We’ve been waiting about two hours for her to come, but we would wait forever. As a person who travels overseas I realise how Miss Lou has impacted our culture and our lives, both at home and abroad. And so if we had to wait two more hours in the sun we would be right here!” commented popular deejay Tony Rebel, who sang Sweet Jamaica and a few stanzas of If Jah is Standing by My Side for Miss Lou.

One elderly man within the crowd told the Observer that he felt fortunate to have grown up when Miss Lou performed in person, and even recited a few lines of her poem, Colonisation in Reverse.

“I’m here to look at her and to show her due respect…den nuh mus, is Miss Lou! I know of her from I was a very little boy, and I’m 68 now. I used to love Ring Ding, and I think I saw her once when I was 12, up at Hope Gardens,” he recalled.

“What a sumting…Miss Lou come home! We glad fi har, God know,” he added.