MAYOR of Portmore Councillor Leon Thomas, who is convinced that the youth generation is lacking cultural appreciation of Emancipation Day, used the municipality’s 15th anniversary jamboree yesterday to recreate aspects of a Jamaica of yesteryear.

In addition to displays of household appliances and equipment of old on the greenfield site across from Portmore Mall, children rode on scooters hewn from wood, played ‘tyre and stick’, and drove makeshift trucks.

The second staging of the Portmore Jamboree coincided with the observance of Emancipation Day.

“There is a lot to celebrate,” Thomas said.

“Our ancestors who have passed and gone have paved the way for all of us, but from what I have been observing over the years, there are no memories, there is nothing at all, it’s hardly being taught in our schools, and we need to remind our younger generation about our ancestors,” he added.

Some residents of the Portmore community who were attending the event shared similar views.

“Emancipation means freedom. That is, we are free from the colonial system, and we can make our own decisions, but I think a lot of Jamaicans are not educated about what emancipation truly means. If they were, a lot would not just see it only as a holiday to go out, but they would move to get more involved in cultural events and in activities in their communities,” said Eunice McNamee.

“And I think the education should start in our homes and in our churches; and the teachers also need to help,“ she added.

Another resident, Veronica Sewell-Morgan, said: “We don’t make people understand the significance of the holiday and the things that used to happen, and there needs to be more education around this holiday.”

In the meantime, the mayor, who was speaking with the Jamaica Observer, listed a number of things he said the municipality has achieved in 15 years.

“Our 15th anniversary is quite significant because before 2003 the people of Portmore usually had a hard time getting building plans approved, and also had infrastructure and other problems that faced the local planning authority and they had to go to Spanish Town. Now, we have our local planning authority in Portmore; we are much more efficient in serving the people.

“We now have our own office in Portmore, we started in 2003 and we actually started in a classroom and then moved to Dermason Plaza and from there to Portmore Pines Plaza. and one of our major achievements is the (facility) that we are building right beside ‘100 Man Police Station’,” Mayor Thomas said.

According to him, “The completion of that building will see significant improvements in our services to the people of Portmore, because we want to have a larger tax office with NIS and all the government services in one place; we are having meetings with some of them already.”

Another major achievement, he said, is the establishment of the Portmore Economic Development Committee which works closely with community entrepreneurs to help them market their services and products so as to position Portmore as a tourist destination.

“We take in our local business people, train them and help them to market their produce, because one of the things we are driving towards is to make certain we attract tourists coming to Portmore.

In that respect, Thomas listed Rodney’s Arms and Two Sisters Caves, which is managed by the Urban Development Corporation, as two attractions in the municipality. He said, too, that the town’s history with iguanas and Tainos are part of the tourism package.

He said plans are already in place to launch the municipal tourism logo later this year, which will show what the community has to offer.

“We are looking forward to 2019 to start marketing Portmore as a tourism destination, and we have been meeting with our overseas partners, from Canada, America and Germany, “Mayor Thomas said.

When asked about the possible competition from Kingston he said, “Kingston doesn’t have a [developed] beach; we have beaches and there is nowhere you can find fish and festival that taste as good as Hellshire fish and festivals, which we will be marketing along with our roast breadfruit and ackee from Ackee Village.”

Other achievements the mayor included were the relocation of vendors from the entrance of the community on Municipal Boulevard to Ackee Village; upgrading of George Lee Boulevard to include bus sheds, lay-bys, and sidewalks; the beautification of Municipal Boulevard; widening of Hellshire and Port Henderson roads; installation of solar panels at the Portmore Community College in partnership with Germany; as well as the Climate Change Park which is in the final stages of construction.