Culture Yard stakeholders want more visitors

Trench Town Culture Yard wants more visitors through its doors, but its founder says that will require greater support, accommodation for tourists and a renewed effort to shake the community’s negative stigma.

Michael Smith, 70, who was born and raised in Trench Town and became a musician after growing up in Culture Yard, said the attraction has seen a steady decline in visitors.

“Since we started the Trench Town Culture Yard it has evolved and gone through different stages but right now there is less and less people coming in for the past year or two,” he said. Smith said the vision for the space began decades before it officially opened in 2000.

“Bob Marley gave me the vision one time when him come from England. I was working at the Institute of Jamaica that time and him seh, ‘Mikey people ago come here and start ask unno bout me and unno haffi go know what fi tell them and them will pay unno.’”

Smith said that vision became more important around 1976, when many of the residents of the yard moved away or died, leaving several rooms empty.

“We just keep them and preserve them. Nobody nuh move in till eventually the then Governor General asked me what we wanted to do because I was the chairman of the Trench Town Association and I told him the vision and he gave me his support,” he said. Smith said residents eventually came together to restore the space and preserve its history.

“Bredren and bredren and whoever did still live inna the yard just group up and fix it up and find other place to live. A lot more needs to be done and we are just hoping it can come to pass because the culture a something fi preserve,” he said.

Smith believes Culture Yard has the potential to attract significantly more visitors if tourists could stay in Trench Town rather than travelling elsewhere for accommodation.

“Visitors always come and say they want stay for a day or two but we don’t have that and that has been our aim over the years. If we have that, the foot traffic would be great in Trench Town.”

“We have lands through the government that are marked for development to make guest houses, so when people come they don’t have to go all the way back to other destination for hotel,” he said.

Smith also wants Trench Town to be developed as an entertainment zone where visitors can experience music and community life beyond traditional daytime tours.

“People should be able to come at any time and everywhere dem go there is something entertainment wise to do,” he said.

But Smith opined that the community’s reputation remains one of the biggest barriers to attracting visitors.

“Trench Town had a bad reputation back then, from before me born it was a community with a red marker around it. People enter at dem own risk,” he said. However, he insisted visitors are safe and welcomed.

“I want tell you, nothing ever happen to a visitor in Trench Town. Matter a fact, a dem get protected the most. Them tek care a stranger more than even them own.”

Philanthropist Gloria Palomino said Culture Yard remains an important part of Jamaica’s history and should be experienced by more people.

“Culture Yard is a reflection of Bob Marley and the legacy he left behind. We want people to come and experience that history for themselves, to see the artifacts and feel connected to the space. Even Bob’s guitar is here, preserved in a glass case for people to see, so there is a lot for visitors to discover,” she said.

“We know the location may feel somewhat isolated and there may be other factors affecting the number of visitors, but Culture Yard is accessible and welcoming. We want to remind people that this space is here, the doors are open, and there is a rich piece of Jamaican history waiting to be experienced,” she added.

Smith, meanwhile, believes the future of Culture Yard ultimately depends on the younger generation.

“Culture Yard can be around for a next 1,000 years, but them haffi have the desire fi keep the culture alive, because that’s what Culture Yard is about. If them nuh do it, it will be no more after we gone.”