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Left: Twisted Spiritz promoter Ron Burke. Right: Danielle aka D.I. came out to show her support. - Contributed Photos
With the general election coming up on December 29, promoters are left wondering if the Christmas party season will be affected.
December is one of the more popular 'party seasons' with parties throughout the Christmas time and culminating with New Years Eve. Some of signature events include: Daydreams, Twisted Spiritz, Osmosis, Absinthe, French Connection, Smudge, Yush, Black Out, Sting among others. However with the election scheduled to take place at the peak of the Christmas party season, promoters are left wondering what to expect.
Ron Burke, promoter of Twisted Spiritz, which is scheduled for the day following election on December 30 at the Caymanas Polo Club, said the decision to announce a December 29 election date has left promoters with a deep sense of uncertainty.
Burke told The WEEKEND STAR recently, "to be honest we don't know what's going to happen. I look at it going either two ways, there's a lot of uncertainty and the people are moody. If the masses wanted JLP and PNP wins, or vice versa, people are going to be upset and decide they don't want to go anywhere. Or, elections have passed and people just want to go out and party, nobody knows what's going to happen."
He added, "If we have to push back the date then we will, its just that at that time people would have already left who were visiting from Christmas and others will be going back to school, but we'll see."
Another promoter of a popular post-Christmas party told The WEEKEND STAR that the election date while unfortunate should not greatly affect attendance at the shows. The promoter said, "from feedback and what I've been hearing persons don't really intend to stop partying or going out. Most persons are in agreement that it's quite unfortunate that they decided to hold election at Christmas time, especially since the actual feeling and spirit of Christmas has decreased over the years in Jamaica. So it is kind of messed up that they even thought about holding an election at this time."
They added, "however persons don't seem like they are going to let it affect their Christmas plans. The last election was pretty peaceful and violence free so most persons are expecting it to be the same this year. Persons are planning on going about the regular plans before and after, just cast their votes on the day and go about their Christmas season as planned."
For deejay and promoter Danielle she has decided to postpone her sexy all-black party 'Lustre' until after the election season. The party was to be held on December 22 at Bournemouth Bath in Kingston. She told The WEEKEND STAR, "We decided to postpone Lustre for the Christmas and make it bigger and better for March. Even though we're now hearing everything is going to be fine during elections, we wanted to be on the safe side and make everybody comfortable so we're postponing it."
In a release sent to The WEEKEND STAR, the promoters of Sting guaranteed that despite the elections, the show would go on. The release said, " despite the announcement by Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness that General Elections will be held on December 29th, 2011, Supreme Promotions the promoters of Sting held each year on Boxing Day, December 26 is on as scheduled. Does this mean that Jamaicans have gone beyond violent elections? The staging of this event dubbed 'The Greatest One Night Reggae Show on Earth' would definitely confirm this."
One good news for promoters however was confirmation that permission will be granted by the police for events. On Tuesday, Karl Angell, Director of Communication for the Jamaica Constabulary Force, sent a release confirming that there will be no ban on events during the official election period. The release stated, "Persons wanting to conduct such events should apply for the required police permit in the usual manner to the police commander in charge of the division in which the function is scheduled to take place."
The crowd was as thick as the party vibe at Yush Party, held at the Chinese Benevolent Association, Old Hope Road on Saturday December 29, 2007.
