10,000 Coconuts Gone: An Adventist Youth Camporee Leaves Trelawny Asking for More Events at Its Stadium

• A five-day Seventh-day Adventist Pathfinder Camporee filled the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium
• Falmouth’s mayor said the stadium “isn’t being fully utilised” and wants more such events
• Local farmers did well, with one supplier’s 10,000 coconuts sold out
• The council met in a new night-shelter building after the Falmouth Town Hall roof collapsed

A church youth gathering has given Trelawny a lesson in what its big public venue can earn. After the five-day Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventists Fifth Pathfinder Camporee at the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium, Falmouth’s mayor said he wanted more events like it, the Jamaica Observer reported.

Councillor C Junior Gager, who also chairs the Trelawny Municipal Corporation, said the stadium “isn’t being fully utilised” and that events of this kind could change that. “We have benefited as a parish. We are hoping that there might be more events like this at the stadium,” he said. He called the camporee a “spectacular experience” that brought Trelawny positive international attention.

The mayor said farmers had benefited most visibly. Local farmers, he said, “benefitted grossly from the sales of their produce” during the event. He described one supplier who “had something like about 10,000 coconuts and they were finished”, with organisers calling to ask where they could find more. Gager also thanked about 120 members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force who worked throughout the camporee.

He spoke at the monthly meeting of the municipal corporation, which was held in a newly completed building meant to serve as a night shelter at the Falmouth Drop In Centre. The meeting had moved there because the roof of the historic Falmouth Town Hall collapsed on March 22, and court sittings had been moved to Duncans while repairs were carried out.

The camporee shows what a large church event can do for a parish economy. Stadiums, hotels and farm supply chains all earn from a week-long gathering of this size. For Trelawny, where public buildings like the town hall need costly repair, getting more use out of a stadium that already exists is a sensible way to earn from the investment. Landowners, farmers and anyone with rooms to rent around Falmouth and Florence Hall should note that faith-based events are an important market. The church calendar can bring in money reliably if venues and transport are ready.

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