THE Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) says priority has been placed on ensuring patrons have improved access to the Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show this year.

Set to take place for three days from Friday, August 1 to Sunday, August 3 at the Denbigh Showgrounds in May Pen, Clarendon, the event is expected to attract more than 60,000 patrons.

Chief executive officer of the JAS Derron Grant, said one of the aims is to change the look and feel of the event with regard to parking.

“There has always been a situation with parking…so we have enhanced our additional public parking so it can accommodate more vehicles as well,” he said.

“This year, we will be participating with JUTC [Jamaican Urban Transit Company] in a park and ride arrangement. The return fare is $1,500 per person. The bus will be leaving the Half-Way-Tree Transport Centre every day to Denbigh; also from Portmore, downtown Kingston, and the Spanish Town lay-by to Denbigh and return each day,” he said.

Grant said the JAS is also giving major discounts to its members.

“We are also subsidising transport for over 500 of them to come to the showgrounds each day to celebrate our 130th birthday,” he said.

The cost to enter Denbigh is $1,500 for adults and $600 for children, with gates opening at 8:00 am each day and activities slated to end at 11:00 pm.

Meanwhile, work has also been done to improve access to the showgrounds for people with disabilities.

Grant said Denbigh is an event for all and this is an important step in planning for the event.

“We have placed barriers in some of the roads where persons used to park to enable wheelchair access. That is one of the reasons why we are removing a lot of vehicles off the showgrounds. We have also started to retrofit a number of the restrooms to facilitate the disabled community,” he said.