Decision On Dream Weekend Negril Bubble Party Awaiting ODPEM Sanction, Says Babsy Grange
Entertainment Minister Olivia “Babsy” Grange says that a decision has still not been taken on the Dream Weekend bubble event proposed for Negril come Independence Week, as the application is still under review and has to be sanctioned by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM).
According to Grange, the application will be put under rigorous scrutiny in order to ensure that promoters of the event, dubbed “the Caribbean’s largest party experience”, can guarantee that the proper mitigation measures will be put in place to ensure COVID-19 protocols are adhered to.
“I can’t tell you I am going to give them the go-ahead. It goes to ODPEM. Yes, a bubble event, fully vaccinated, fine; and also COVID tests, fine,” Grange said during an Entertainment Report interview with veteran entertainment journalist Anthony Miller.
“One has to be able to validate those who say they have been fully vaccinated and validate the COVID tests. Once those things are in place and can be done, I don’t see a difficulty,” she explained.
Dream Weekend, an annual event, consists of a series of day and night parties and has Dancehall as its core genre, although other music forms such as Rap, Hip Hop and Soca are included. Over the years artistes such as Sizzla, Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Mavado, Elephant Man, Aidonia, Shenseea and Ishawna, have graced the Dream stage.
When asked by Miller whether there was “no other route to fully opening Jamaica”, the Minister said there was none, except vaccination.
“So what you have to do is prepare yourself to get vaccinated,” she said.
On June 30, Dream Entertainment, the promoters of the popular event, said in a release that it had submitted an application and plan to the Government to host its flagship Dream Weekend event in Negril from August 5 to August 9.
Their application had come on the heels of Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ announcement of the phased reopening of the entertainment industry beginning July 1.
Chairman of Dream Entertainment Kamal Bankay had said in a release that it had conceptualised the “bubble event” approach to ensure safety and compliance.
“All patrons and staff attending Dream Weekend 2021 will need to be either fully vaccinated or pre-tested, and prove to be negative, for COVID-19 before being allowed to get an event armband,” Bankay had said.
He had also outlined that all hotels and venues for patrons and staff would be on the resilient corridor and that Dream was committed to working with all the State Ministries and agencies to use Dream Weekend 2021 as a pilot event for a safe re-opening.
“The incredible success of the tourism industry’s resilient corridor has shown, day-in-day-out over the past 13 months, to be a perfect example of protocols facilitating the safe reopening of a sector,” Bankay had noted.
The majority of the patrons attending will need to be tested to leave Jamaica and thus the efficacy of the plans and protocols will be evaluated and can be replicated or tweaked for future large events,” noted Bankay.
Managing Director of Dream Entertainment, Scott Dunn, who earlier this year called for the Government to either reopen the entertainment industry, or provide its stakeholders with a relief package, also noted that the company is would “deliver an integrated health and safety plan to ensure a safe environment given its track record in event planning and logistics.
“Dream Weekend’s large international patronage comes from the same tourist markets that have been driving the record-breaking recovery our tourism sector is now seeing. These markets have achieved majority vaccinated populations and those people are ready to travel and enjoy the reopening of the world,” Dunn said.