The Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board hosted its famous Fish Fry on Thursday, November 17, but this time it had a twist – it was held at the Lester Williams Community Park on the island of the nation’s capital, Grand Turk.
The event, which is one of the major highlights of the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board’s Tourism Environmental Awareness Month (TEAM) calendar, brought the community out in droves to support local vendors, watch cultural dances, and listen to Grand Turk bands.
TCI Tourist Board’s Training Manager and Coordinator of TEAM, Blythe Clare opened the Grand Turk Fish Fry by inviting the TCI’s Junior Minister of Tourism of 2022-23, Chelsea Been of Grand Turk’s Helena Jones Robinson High School, to make opening remarks. Been articulated how holding this position has been an absolute honour and has provided her with opportunities, such as representing the Turks and Caicos Islands at the 2022 Caribbean Tourism Organization’s Regional Tourism Youth Congress, which was held in September in the Cayman Islands.
Huntley Forbes Jr, commonly known as ‘Super P’ was the host of the Grand Turk Fish Fry and kept the crowd entertained while he introduced the various performers. Students of the Eliza Simons Primary School kicked off the entertainment with dances and local songs while wearing the national dress. This was followed up by the Helena Jones Robinson High School band before the night was ended with a performance from The Sunset Band.
“We are extremely thankful for our vendors and entertainment, as well as the Grand Turk community for making the Grand Turk Fish Fry such a success”, said Acting Director of Tourism, Mary Lightbourne. “Many attendees have been requesting for us to make the Grand Turk Fish Fry a more regular occurrence – and with the support it received, I can assure the public that we will be looking at making this a reality”, added Lightbourne.
Tourism Environmental Awareness Month events will conclude on Tuesday, November 29 with an Open House at the Turks and Caicos Islands Community College (TCICC), in collaboration with the TCICC’s tourism students.