MONTEGO BAY, St James — Local stakeholders are thrilled with the return of activities to Catherine Hall Entertainment Centre, with Saturday’s staging of Montego Bay Jerk and Food Festival, an annual event whose fate was in question after the venue was damaged by last October’s Hurricane Melissa.

“The feeling of being in this Catherine Hall Entertainment Centre is one of triumph,” president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jason Russell, told the Jamaica Observer on the sidelines of the celebrity chef cook-off competition which he later won.

“To see the park back and opened, separate and apart from Jerk Fest, to see the Government fix back the park, it looks good. The grass looks good, the walls are up, the fences are up. It gives me a real warm feeling and MoBay is really back,” he added.