Month of celebrations for Miss Lou

The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) is commemorating the 104th anniversary of the birth of late cultural icon, Dr Louise 'Miss Lou' Bennett-Coverley, with a month-long series of activities across the island.

Miss Lou was born on September 7, 1919, at 40 North Street, Kingston. The celebrations began with a floral tribute at National Heroes Park on her birthday and will end on September 29. Activities will include parish library exhibitions, mini-displays, re-enacting of 'Ring Ding', Miss Lou look-a-like and bandanna competitions.

Director of the Community, Cultural Development Services Division, JCDC, Marjorie Leyden Kirton, told JIS News that the entity has a mandate to preserve Jamaica's culture and heritage.

"We do the celebrations to ensure that the generations that are coming up will continue to know who we are as a people, and to preserve who we are as Jamaicans," she said.

Among the events, there will be readings of Miss Lou's poems to students at the St Catherine and Spanish Town primary schools on Thursday, September 14; and the Port Antonio Primary School in Portland will host a Miss Lou concert, featuring storytelling, stand-up comedy, dialect and dub-poetry on that day. On September 22, a bandanna competition and concert will be held at the Sean Lavery Faith Hall in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, which will feature a fashion show with Miss Lou costumes, performances of Miss Lou poems, storytelling and songs.

The celebrations continue with a Miss Lou Dialect Competition and Awards Ceremony at the JCDC Manchester Parish Office, Mandeville, on September 29. Similar competitions will take place on that day at the JCDC's Clarendon Parish Office in May Pen, and at the JCDC's St Elizabeth Parish Office in Santa Cruz.