After a five-year hiatus, it is safe to say that Boston is the home of the jerk festival.

Last Sunday, CranWATA and Tropical Vibes Production smiled as they saw jerk fans from across the world and Portlanders and residents from across the 14 parishes enter the Boston Community Center to support the CranWATA Boston Jerk Festival. Over 10,000 fans came to be part of the festival.

As part of Jamaica's 50th anniversary, the promoters wanted to showcase the roots of the authentic jerk dishes at their festival, and indeed they did! Among the list of succulent dishes for the day were jerk rabbit, which was the first to sell off completely. jerk deer was an interesting dish that did well. jerk lobster, jerk lionfish, jerk conch, and the traditional jerk chicken and jerk pork were all excellent sellers.

Event planner Garwin Davis said: "the turnout exceeded my expectations. I had vendors telling me they had good sales and most patrons saying that the festival was good and they can't wait until next year".

Brand manager for CranWATA (title sponsor), Tamara Ward, raved about how much patrons were refreshed while having their favourite jerk dish at the festival. "Everywhere you looked, patrons were enjoying the different flavours of CranWATA, and so the mission was accomplished. Also, the turnout was massive, and we are so happy we were able to be part of this cultural event that was well supported."

As promised, the promoters honoured their first citizen of Portland, Patrice Wymore-Flynn. She was given a basket of CranWata courtesy of the title sponsor, CranWATA. She immediately fell in love with the beverage after she tried the product for the first time.

Among other activities were the CranWATA drinking contest with the kids, the bounce-a-bout, clowns, fire dancers, a merry-go-round, rock climbing, a dance group, comedians, and local community performers.

Foota Hype had the crowd in a frenzy throughout his set as he played crowd favourites like Party Shot by Popcaan, Bruk it Dung by Vegas, and A Yah Suh Nice by Potential Kidd.

Fab Five set the tone with live music. Then Jimmy Riley graced the stage with his melodious hits. Sandra Brooks blessed and ministered to the patrons.

Although it was a jerk festival, patrons demanded Specialist to sing his Phone Card and Banana Chips hit. Toya, Motion, and Harry Toddler delivered, representing the DownSound Records camp.

As was expected, the voices of females were at their loudest as they screamed for crooner Chris Martin, who delivered all his hits, among them, Take my Wings, Paper Loving, and Cheater's Prayer.

Patrons got a little disgruntled while they were awaiting their 'doctor', Beenie Man, to cure them before exiting the venue. The King of the Dancehall came and apologised for being late and proceeded to rock the grounds of the Boston Community Center with hit after hit.