Inspired by an older sister’s tale of an event for twins and multiples, identical twins Janise and Jenise Harrison journeyed from Annotto Bay, St Mary to Twinsburg, Ohio to become the only Jamaicans in attendance at this year’s staging of the Twins Day Festival.

Like many other twins, the Harrison sisters share an intense bond. They often do things in unison, from singing and worshipping together to finishing each other’s sentences. After being told about the Twins Day Festival by their older sibling a decade ago, they added the festival to their bucket list and made it their mission to visit an event where many like themselves assemble to celebrate what makes them special.

“When we were 10 years old, one of our older sisters showed us images of other twins when the festival was being held…Since then, we started aspiring to attend,” Janise, the older of the two, said.

In their first appearance 10 years later, the 21-year-old sisters were highlighted for their uniqueness as Jamaicans, winning medals in the process.

“This year, we happened to be in Ohio for vacation…While we were there, we were the only Jamaicans that attended. Even a news reporter from the Insider singled us out. There’s actually an article now that includes us,” Janise said.

“It was wonderful because we met people from Australia and Germany. So, there were a lot of us there as internationals but what happened was that they were having a range of competitions and then when we said that we were from Jamaica, one of the judges there gave us medals and said you guys are international winners and gave us the medals,” she added.

The Twins Day Festival was held August 4-6 under the theme, “Shiver Me TWINbers”. The 48-year-old event touts itself as being the largest annual gathering for twins and multiples (triplets, quadruplets etc) in the world.

This year’s fest attracted local families and other patrons, who journeyed from as far as Australia. Janise and Jenise, who are both pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Health at the University of Technology, were reportedly singled out for their “Jamaicaness”.

“It was awesome. Everyone wanted to take our pictures. We took pictures throughout the day with several people because they saw us and they said you’re from Jamaica. You guys came all the way from Jamaica to be here,” Janise said.

They added that it was a lifelong dream to be among other multiples of this magnitude.

“It was amazing because it’s like we’re in a place where everyone understands each other. It was not strange, we were just comfortable. We were strangers to each other, but we interacted as if we knew each other for a long time,” added Jenise.

The Twins Day Festival will return to Twinsburg, Ohio from August 2 to August 4 next year.