Hundreds of persons braved the heavy rains and the bad roads to journey to Moore Town in Portland for the annual Nanny Day celebrations last month.

It was a day of festivities and cultural display as the young and old alike were taken on a historical journey through music, dance, speeches and the ceremonial blowing of the abeng.

Among the celebrants were Colonel Fevron Williams from Accompong Maroons, Colonel Frank Lumsden (Charles Town Maroons), Colonel Wallace Sterling and historian Beverly Carey who enlightened the audience about the maroon heritage.

Port Antonio Mayor Benny White, himself of maroon descent, commended those who came from far and wide to participate in the event.

“Granny Nanny is my hero. No bad road, no rain can stop the spirit of the maroon people,” White told the festive audience.

He added further,” if it was bad like two weeks ago we would still have the maroon celebration, and if the road mash up we would still have the celebration because while we know that the road to fix we have to pay respect to our maroon leader.”

His aim and objective, White said, is to develop the community’s own brand of tourism and plans are already underway to develop and recreate a maroon village.

“We would like persons to come and tour ‘Nanny Falls, Christian Falls, and go to Cornwall Barracks to see how maroon people do fi we sinting” he stated.

Member of Parliament for East Portland Dr Lynvale Bloomfield also promised that heritage tourism will take off in a big way in the parish.

He said roads will soon be fixed, piped water will be in homes, and information and communication technology will be introduced in the Rio Grande Valley as a baseline to launch eco-tourism and heritage tourism in the area.

“This as we teach our youngsters to display everything that has happened in our history leading up to this point so that others from all over the world can come and learn and experience our Africanisms,” he said.

He also said a new monument for Heroine “Nanny” will be built as promised by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.