Kingston, Jamaica: The journey towards crowning the 2018 Miss Jamaica Festival Queen heats up as parish level coronations, begin this Sunday, May 27. A signature programme of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), an agency of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen parish coronations will see intelligent, culturally-aware, poised and empowered women who are seeking a platform to make their contributions to nation building, compete to represent their parish at the national coronation in August.

The parish coronations kick off on Sunday May 27 with St. James at the Iberostar Hotel in Lilliput, beginning at 6:30 pm. Then, Saturday June 2 will see Portland’s Coronation at the Port Antonio High School in Port Antonio beginning at 8:00 pm. While Sunday, June 3 will see the St. Ann coronation at the Cardiff Hotel and Spa, Runway Bay and the St. Catherine coronation at the Eltham High School Auditorium, beginning at 7:00 pm and 6:00 pm respectively.

Saturday, June 9 will see St. Mary’s coronation at the St. Mary Anglican Church Hall in Port Maria, and St. Thomas’s coronation at Colonel Cove in Morant Bay, with both shows beginning at 8: 00 pm.  Then Sunday June 10 will see Kingston and St. Andrew’s coronation at The Louise Bennett Garden Theatre at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre, beginning at 7: 00 pm.

On the following weekend, Saturday June 16 will see Hanover’s coronation at the Jockey Factory in Lucea, and St. Elizabeth’s coronation at the Alpart Sports Club in Nain, both beginning at 8:00 pm.

Saturday, June 23 will be the Clarendon and Westmoreland coronations at the Glenmuir High School in May Pen and the Sean Lavery Faith Hall in Savanna-La-Mar respectively, both beginning at 8:00 pm.

Sunday, June 24 will see Trelawny’s coronation at the Historic Falmouth Cruise Port, Falmouth and Manchester’s coronation at the Bishop Gibson High School, Mandeville, beginning at 8:00 pm and 7:00 pm respectively.

Tickets for the various coronations may be purchased at the relevant parish office, or at the gate of the event.

According to Director of Marketing & Public Relations at the JCDC, Stephen Davidson, “The coronations are just the first step on the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Journey. We hope that patrons will be out in their numbers to cheer on the well-rounded young woman who will later represent their parish at the national coronation.”

Davidson also noted that the festival queen programme, which focuses on leadership, appreciation of the role of women, creative talent and culture and community involvement, has produced some outstanding queens who have continued to make a significant contribution to building ‘Brand Jamaica’ beyond their reign. Some of the past queens include Dr. Marsh Barnett, Jennifer ‘Jenny-Jenny’ Small, Jacinth Hall-Tracey, Dahlia Harris, Krystal Tomlinson and Kaysia Johnson.