MAY PEN, Clarendon — Clarendonians will officially open their Jamaica 50 extravaganza with an Emancipation/Independence thanksgiving service on July 29 at the historic St Peter’s Anglican Church in Alley.

The festivities, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Jamaica’s Independence from Britain, will end in October with the unveiling of a Celebrate Clarendon monument and an awards banquet to honour some of the parish’s unsung heroes.

Plans for the celebration, which Mayor of May Pen Scean Barnswell said will cost $4 million, were announced recently by the Clarendon Jamaica 50 planning committee in the chambers of the Clarendon Parish Council.

“The parish of Clarendon has offered so much to Jamaica over the past 50 years, so we decided not to keep it on a down-low,” Barnswell said.

The church service in Alley will have huge significance as St Peter’s, built in 1671, is said to be amongst the seven oldest Anglican churches in the Caribbean.

It served as parish church of the former parish of Vere (which was annexed to St Dorothy’s and the former Clarendon to create the parish we know today). It will be one of several historical buildings featured in a special documentary on Clarendon — Memoirs of Clarendon — which was commissioned by Custos William Shagoury, and will be shown at this year’s Denbigh Agricultural Show.

“We have never had a documentary on the parish, so I came up with the idea earlier in the year to get an audio and video recording done because there is a lot of history to the parish,” the Custos told Observer Central.

The Clarendon Jamaica 50 celebration will continue on July 31 with an Emancipation Vigil in the May Pen town centre, which will feature traditional Jamaican food, dance and music. It will end with a midnight reading by the Mayor of the proclamation declaring the freedom of enslaved people.

“The vigil is in honour of the contributions made by our ancestors to the development of our country,” Barnswell said. “Focusing on role-playing, the activities will highlight what took place in the hours before the slaves were freed, giving us an opportunity to share in the traditions and customs of the past.”

On August 1, the spotlight will turn to the Blackwoods community, where an all-day Emancipation Day celebration dubbed ‘Fus a Augus’ Fair’ and featuring “a variety of games, rides, competitions, shows and foods that showcase Jamaican culture” will be held at the community centre.

A series of village concerts and street dances will be staged across the parish from August 2-4. There will also be a fun day at Rest Primary and Junior High School in Milk River August 2, which will feature the Milk River, Cultural Pageant, and guest artiste Toots Hibbert. The May Pen Parade and Festival, under the theme: ‘It’s JAM 50: Come celebrate Clarendon’, is set for August 5.

On August 6, Independence Day, a flag-raising ceremony will be held on the grounds of the May Pen Court House starting at 9:00am, followed by a display in the Jamaica 50 Independence Village on the grounds of the old police station.

A marble obelisk with the image of the parish will be unveiled in October. It will highlight Clarendon’s mayors, custodes, members of parliament, as well as important events that have occurred in the parish over the past 50 years.