One January afternoon 30 years ago, principals sat down to lunch at the then-trendy Sea Witch restaurant in New Kingston. At the end of this working lunch, those in attendance, who included Sonny Bradshaw, RJR's Don Topping, Winston Barnes and a representative from The Gleaner, had formed the Tastee Talent Contest.

Two months later, on the last Thursday in March, what was to become a tradition, the first semi-final, was held at the Tastee car park.

Three other such semi-finals were held in alternate months - May, July and September. The top acts from these semis were then pitted against each other in what became, arguably, the most-celebrated finals in the history of talent contests in this country.

On that Thursday afternoon in December 1979, MC and judge Winston Barnes announced the result and 11-year-old Nadine Sutherland, behind a sparkling performance of Peter Tosh's Buckingham Palace, secured enough points to edge out Paul Blake, who went on to be an outstanding lead singer with the Blood Fire Posse, and Winston 'Yellow Man' Foster who, five years later, in 1984, single-handedly established dancehall night at Reggae Sunsplash.

Since then, the contest has evolved to easily become the most successful of its type, surpassing the Vere Johns Hour of the 1950s.

After 27 years, the contest underwent a change in 2007. It was renamed the Tastee Talent Trail but remained true to its core value of being a talent contest which offered an outlet to singers, DJs, poets, dancers, actors and magicians and, of course, the judges had the final say.

Now in its 30th year, a new team has been assembled to take the trail to another level, with more rural auditions and other major announcements to be made soon.

Two years ago, Pepsi joined Tastee and from that lunch in 1979, in New Kingston, the Tastee contest has grown and continues to evolve 30 years later.