The Grace Food Festival combined an array of meal offerings, giveaways, music, and quality performances during its sophomore staging at Palm Drive, Hope Gardens, in St Andrew on Saturday.

Although the event started from as early as 11:00 am, the stage show performances were not set to get underway until 6:00 pm with artistes such as Prince Saj, Joby Jay, Rondell Positive, Christopher Martin, and GraceKennedy Brand Ambassador Ding Dong, along with the Ravers.

Ding Dong explained that the festival’s staging was particularly sentimental because it represented the legacy of the late former Group CEO Don Wehby.

“It’s always a delight and pleasure to be here representing the brand; representing the culture [and] representing this monumental moment. It’s very dear to me because this is the first one without Don,” Ding Dong told the
Jamaica Observer.

The entertainer’s usual energetic set featured crowd engagement, with one lucky worker receiving $10,000 from his team for her rendition of the popularised Stir Fry dance. He also surprised the almost 5,000 patrons who turned out with appearances by Kemar Highcon and Vanessa Bling. The latter — who was flown in just for the event — paid a special tribute to Wehby with the song Glory.

Ding Dong noted that he has managed to champion the Grace brand over the last few years because of a long-standing preference for their products.

“Mi grow up pon the mackerel and the bully beef and the other stuff, so it just comes natural to me. Grace products are embedded in my life, my kids’ lives, my family and friends’ lives. It doesn’t even cost me a sweat,” he explained.

From jerk pork and pastas to sweet treats and smoothies, patrons enjoyed a wide variety of offerings from more than 20 Jamaican food vendors. Crowd favourites seem to include Prendy’s On The Beach, Stocolocco Smoothie Bar, Super Spicy Doubles, Fyah Side Jerk, Gloria’s Seafood, Bulbie Soups, Presto Pasta, Tacbar, Scotchies/Fry Fry, Scoops Ice Cream, Your Choice, Chicken and Tings, Mothers Jamaica, Waah Gwaan Café, Candy Fruit, Fruit Print Jamaica, and the Grace Jerk Hut.

A kiddies’ village delighted the little ones with rides, face painting, and treats, while the Grace Yaad provided back-to-school supplies along with free medical and dental checks.

Meanwhile, popular gospel recording artiste Rondell Positive was thrilled about being a part of the festival, particularly because of the camaraderie among families.

“I’m excited because I get an opportunity to pour into not one, nor two, but possibly three generations. So, that, for me, makes it exciting and I’m grateful that Grace would consider me to be included,” he told the Observer.

His set included songs like More Than A Conquerer, Sticks nor Stones and, of course, Keeping Me Alive.

For her part, Tamara Thompson, general manager, Grace Foods, hailed the event as a success and as a means of extending gratitude to local consumers.

“For us at Grace, the ‘good food people’, as we’re known, it’s really about connecting and building memorable moments and connecting families for life… We’re embarking on what we call the Good Move’ campaign, and really and truly, we see this as a good move to say thanks to Jamaica, and what we want to denote in terms of giving back… We’re really happy to see the people of Jamaica turning out, and we want to head to MoBay, hopefully, but this is the beginning of what I believe is greater to come,” she told the Observer.

Kemar Highcon (Photo: Karl Mclarty)

Ding Dong connects with the audience.(Photo: Karl Mclarty)

Joby Jay (Photo: Karl Mclarty)

Rondell Positive owns the stage at the festival. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)

Christopher Martin gets the energy from the crowd. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)

Ding Dong and the Ravers Clavers raise the temperature onstage. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)