Willow’s Bank cooks soul food in fire hearth

Natalie Palacio

The second Willows Bank Fire Hearth Festival is coming up this weekend. It was started in 2011 by a group of residents from the village who wanted to revive the traditional way of cooking and introduce it to the younger generation. The main feature of the event is a fire hearth cooking competition, but coordinator, Natalie Palacio, says there will be a lot of entertainment for those who head out to the festival on Saturday.

Natalie Palacio, Coordinator, Willows Bank Fire Hearth Festival

“This year the festival will be held on Saturday, the eighteenth of August. We expect it to be bigger and better than last year and we are calling for all persons to come out and support the village of Willows Bank. This year we will feature the first ever coconut relay competition, which basically is a relay where we have one person huxing a coconut, the other person chipping and the other grating with an old fashion coconut grater as well as the Roddler fire hearth cooking competition continues. We want to see if Double Head is able to retain their title, they won last year.”

Delahnie Bain

“This is going to be an all day event?”

Natalie Palacio

“Yes, this is expected to be an all day event. There will be food and drinks on sale and there will be all types of activities for young and old. There will the bouncy house for kids as well as trampoline and different games. We’ll also have a bicycle ride, there’s also going to be the greasy pole competition and the tug of war completion between villages.”

Delahnie Bain

“I know last year you all had made arrangements for a bus running from the city; is that happening again?”

Natalie Palacio

“Yes, we have the bus running. The bus will be leaving Pound Yard at ten and returning at six as well as the normal bus runs that you normally take at Amara Avenue. Those leave at twelve and I believe at three-thirty and they return at three-thirty and five o’clock. We had a very good turn out last year although it was the first one. We have to say a big thank you to those who came out all those persons that came out and supported last year and we’re hoping that those people will come back again this year as well as bring their friends and other family.”