For Falmouth, a once bustling seaport town from which sugar was exported in colonial Jamaica, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 represents a chance for social renewal and economic recovery.

As the stage from which the World Cup is being launched today, historic Falmouth will be the backdrop against which an estimated 2.6 billion people across the globe will watch the opening ceremony of the world’s third largest sporting tournament.

In every nook and cranny of the old town, there is new hope that Cricket World Cup’s legacy will be more than an intriguing game of bat versus ball, but will be the springboard on which to launch the designated resort town as a heritage and sports tourism destination.

“We want to market Falmouth as an original town, in the sense that Montego Bay and Ochi (Ocho Rios), if visitors want the fast food they can go there, but if they want the steam fish, roast yam, the ackee and salt fish, the pudding and so on…anybody thinking about the original food, the fresh fruit, they could say let us go to Falmouth,” said Falmouth mayor Jonathan Bartley.

“We are trying to get as much infrastructure as possible in place so we could try and sell the parish on the world tourist market as a tourist destination. That was what we were trying to maximise out of it so the people that come into Falmouth (for the Cricket World Cup) would see Falmouth as a place where they could come back to spend their vacation,” he told the Sunday Observer.

After years of discussions, the moment of which Bartley spoke has arrived, and with it mixed feelings among members of Falmouth’s business and political communities over whether enough has been done to achieve that end.

Optimism describes the president of the Trelawny Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dennis Seivwright, who was instrumental in transforming the Hampden Wharf into a commercial centre for small business operators, providing historic attractions, entertainment, food and craft items.

“It (Hampden Wharf) is a 200-year-old historic site where the slave trade took place, where the massive export of sugar took place and it was the largest commercial area in Jamaica,” he said. “We have 28 small businesses of all types selling products from food to craft and music. And this is to allow for earnings.

“The wharf forms the very hub of the commercial zone of Falmouth and we intend to benefit from the massive grand event planned for Water Square by Brand Trelawny over today and tomorrow (March 10 and 11),” Seivwright said.

But he acknowledged that some craft vendors were “a little edgy about the fact that they are not getting any business”.

Still, Seivwright was impressed with the last-minute preparations taking place in the town.

“Apparently Jamaicans like to do things at the last minute,” he said. “If you see the extensive work done in the last three days you would be amazed. The amount of road paved in three days is amazing. It looks like we can deliver, but deliver when it matters most.”

His optimism was shared by People’s National Party (PNP) member of parliament Dr Patrick Harris, who was upbeat over the level of preparation and confident that the cricket tournament would propel heritage tourism in the parish.

“For us locally it (Cricket World Cup) is a business. We must look at the business opportunities and how our legacy package can redound to our success for the next 20 to 25 years,” he said.

“The infrastructure has been put in place, the town is being cleaned up, our duty now is to make sure that that kind of priority is sustained,” Harris added.

But Harris’ counterpart, Dennis Meadows, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) caretaker for the North Trelawny constituency, argued that the parish fell down badly in its preparation to showcase the historic town as a tourism destination.

“Overall I said from the beginning that what the World Cup provided was a catalyst to launch Falmouth as a fledgling tourism resort. I think the World Cup provides that perfect opportunity. But in my view, we have dropped the ball in terms of the level of preparation,” said Meadows. “I don’t think the aesthetics of the town were properly dealt with, I think it was mediocre.”

Mayor Bartley shared the views of his JLP colleague, expressing disappointment over the fact the construction of the new police station, the new fire station and the refurbished hospital in the town, was not completed in time.

“The fire station, police station and the hospital… they are on their way, but I wanted the visitors to see them because they know modern things and they would know we are here,” Bartley complained.