“christmas at the castle kicks off holiday season with joy”

[Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands – December 8th, 2020] The Tourism Attraction Board (TAB) and Pedro St. James (PSJ) through the help of Maples Group, Coca-Cola and the Ministry of Culture, hosted Christmas at the Castlethis past Sunday (6^th December) with the hope of spreading cheer through the family-friendly event.

Hundreds of people gathered on the National Historic Site’s Great Lawn to enjoy a variety show featuring many of Cayman’s well-known pop, country, folk and gospel performers including Erica Assai, Dexter Bodden, the Cayman Islands Folk Singers and the popular Williams Quartet. The event also held a tree lighting ceremony, a Christmas market and food court, and free family photos with Santa Claus*.

“We couldn’t have asked for a more gifted group of people to entertain the audience. There is so much talent in Cayman, we want to say thank you to everyone that lent their time and energy to be at Sunday’s event,” said PSJ operations manager Debbie Bodden.

Dancers from the UCCI/Miss Jackie’s Dance Company, the CI National Dance Company, along with the Jesus the Anointed One glow in the dark glove ministry and saxophonist Junior Hines also volunteered their talents to help raise funds for a wheelchair accessible walkway at Pedro St. James.

“I am excited to say that our raffle raised just over CI$2,000 which will go a long way to helping our seniors and any person living with physical difficulties to be able to visit Pedro as many times as they’d like and be comfortable doing so, we are so grateful to the many companies that donated prizes,” added Mrs. Bodden.

We also want to thank our main sponsors and of course Coca-Cola, for sharing more magic than we could have imagined,” she said eluding to Christmas at the Castle being the setting for Coca-Cola and Tortuga Distributors to reveal its newly Cayman branded can, featuring the outline map of the Cayman Islands and our official Coat of Arms.

“This year has been a tough year for all of us, [and] I think this small token of our appreciation for everyone will go a long way,” said Coca-Cola brand manager Dario Rivers

As the Minister for Culture, Hon. Dwyane Seymour, other Members of Parliament and Tortuga’s managing director, Carlene Hamaty looked on, Mr. Rivers presented Deputy Governor, the Honourable Franz Manderson with the first in its kind branded can.

“I think it’s amazing, it’s something that we can be really proud of [with] our Coat of Arms which is so very special to us,” commented Mr. Manderson.

While only a limited amount of Cayman branded Coca-Cola cans were supplied to several people in attendance, Mr. Rivers confirmed that Tortuga Distributors Ltd. will be rolling out the product in the coming days and will be available across Cayman throughout the month of December.

TAB Director, Patrick Thompson expressed his gratitude to Pedro staff on a job well done. “I take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Deborah Bodden, Operations Manager of Pedro St. James, on behalf of the Tourism Attraction Board, for the tremendous work both she and her team did to pull off such a remarkable event. She is truly an asset to the TAB. I am already anticipating the 2021 event and I know it will be bigger and better. Thanks again to all who participated and contributed,” said Mr. Thompson.

*Follow Pedro St James on Facebook to download your free Santa photo or contact Mona at [email protected]to learn more.

NOTES:

The TAB is responsible for managing the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park; the National Historic Site, Pedro St. James; the Cayman Craft Market and the Hell Geological Site.

For information on the TAB or its agencies please email [email protected], call 949-6999 or visit the website www.tab.ky and it social media sites (below).

https://www.facebook.com/TourismAttractionBoard https://www.facebook.com/pedrostjames
https://www.facebook.com/QEIIBotanicPark/
https://www.facebook.com/caymancraftmarket/
https://www.facebook.com/hellgeologicalsitehttps://www.instagram.com/tourismattractionboard/https://www.instagram.com/pedro_st.james/https://www.instagram.com/qeiibotanicpark/https://www.instagram.com/craftmarket.ky/https://www.instagram.com/hell_geological_site/

Photo 1 caption: Deputy Governor, Hon. Franz Manderson shows off a Coat of Arms branded Coca-Cola can (Courtesy Sonita Malan)

Photo 2 caption: Cayman Coat of Arms on first in its kind Coca-Cola Can (Courtesy Sonita Malan)

Photo 3 caption: Pedro Operations Manager, Debbie Bodden gathered children for the countdown to the Christmas tree lighting (Courtesy Sonita Malan)

Photo 4 caption: UCCI_Miss Jackie’s Dance Company in flawless formation (Courtesy Sonita Malan)