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11th March 2010
Gros Islet Celebrates 25th
STAN BISHOP

Secession is the last thing on the agenda but the changes slated to occur in Gros Islet this year are expected to become the envy of the rest of St. Lucia.
That was the impression given by the organizing committee preparing the roster of activities in observance of the northern community’s twenty-fifth anniversary as a township. Organizers used a press conference on Tuesday evening at the Gros Islet Community Centre to appraise the media and residents on the proposed plans.
“The celebrations planned for the township’s twenty-fifth anniversary, I think, is a good thing,” Ansley Fontenelle, chairman of the Gros Islet Town Council, told The VOICE last Tuesday evening. “What we’re trying to do is to bring the community back to that level of prominence it once had. This year’s anniversary is also expected to create the new thrust for Gros Islet residents overseas who we are hoping would help in contributing to the overall development of the Gros Islet community.”
On the local level, Fontenelle said his committee is seeking the participation of Gros Islet residents and the wider St. Lucian community to join forces to be part of the new thrust.
According to Fontenelle, the community was elevated to township status on August 5, 1985. Over the years, he added, the township has grown from strength to strength in a number of spheres. More strides, he stressed, need to be made. Some of those achievements include Gros Islet being twinned with St. Louis, a town in Martinique in 1991, and the town twinning with Lion Town, Taiwan, last month.
Organizers also point to the northern community now being the focal point for the island’s key hotel industry, the main hub for the St. Lucia Jazz, the location of the world-renowned Beausejour Cricket Ground, and the many other scenic and other facets that form Gros Islet’s contribution to the island. The people, they concur, are by far the best assets.
District representative, Hon. Lenard “Spider” Montoute, says no effort will be spared to ensure that this year’s celebrations are worth the milestone.
 
 

“We are hoping to celebrate this milestone in a very big way which will culminate with a week of activities between July 25th and August 1st,” Montoute said. “This will coincide with the celebration of Gros Islet Day, which will be the weekend of August 1st.”
Montoute noted that quite apart from the celebrations, a big push is in the works to revive a new consciousness of the sterling contributions Gros Islet has made.
“Quite apart from celebrating the milestone, it is also an opportunity for us as residents of Gros Islet to reflect on the history, a very rich history, and to make the younger people and the rest of St. Lucia and our visitors more conscious of that history,” Montoute said. “We want to also reflect on the journey that we have made in the twenty-five years of township and we also want to look at our accomplishments in terms of not just infrastructural development but our development as a people in the community of Gros Islet.”
Unity amongst the community is also high on the agenda of the organizers who say that through collective participation, more can be achieved. Montoute also announced a proposed presentation of a development plan for the community, which he hopes. residents would accept.
The official launch of celebrations will be on Sunday, March 14 by which time the planning committee will release a programme of events. Some of the highlights on the agenda include a homecoming for overseas Gros Islet natives, sporting events, cultural presentations, and honouring residents who have made remarkable contributions to the community over the past twenty-five years.
The theme of the celebrations is “Our Pride, Our People, Our Future” and Montoute indicated that activities will also include the launching of an official Gros Islet flag. The flag will replace the one introduced twenty-five years ago when Gros Islet attained township status, Montoute said.

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