1 week ago
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Dream Weekend, the uber-popular party experience held annually in Negril for 16 years is evolving. And that’s a word that the stakeholders are using a lot.
As Dream Weekend evolves, this year in particular, talk of them packing their bags and moving out of Negril has got louder. With the date for the 2026 edition set and super early-bird tickets already on pre-sale, Dream Entertainment will be hosting a media launch tomorrow. Significantly, the press briefing will be held at Pier One in Montego Bay, and the theme is ‘New Beginnings’.
Owner and general manager of Pier 1, and head of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce, Jason Russell, makes no secret of the fact that one, he is a ‘Dreamer’, and, two, he believes that his city is ideal for the event which is “evolving”.
“As Dream grew, the room bank didn’t grow with it. Negril didn’t step up ... so this point was inevitable. There has always been a kind of a nudge from me to say, ‘Guys, consider MoBay’,” Russell told The Gleaner candidly.
With a name like ‘Dream Weekend,’ if anything seems awry, the “nightmare” headlines will wake up, as they did recently, and Dream Entertainment Chairman Kamal Bankay was quick to put them right back to sleep.
“The Dream is certainly not a nightmare. Thousands of patrons had a fantastic time this year [August 1 - 6]. Unfortunately, the vendors did not have the typical traffic,” Bankay said as he outlined to The Gleaner the steps that Dream Entertainment must take as the Caribbean’s largest VIP festival experience evolves.
Bankay, while emphasising that his organisation has “always had great dialogue with the stakeholders in Negril to plan Dream Weekend seamlessly with them”, noted that there have been challenges. In a nutshell, the cons include not enough beds, the steep increase in price for rooms, traffic snarls, and shrinkage of venues.
“Some of the challenges that we face are patron challenges. Most of our guests are international ... they fly to Montego Bay, and then there’s the hour-and-a-half trip from MoBay to Negril. They are not happy about that,” the chairman stated.
Bankay pointed out that as responsible promoters, they listen to patrons, and one of the things they asked for is a full VIP food and drinks-inclusive experience for everyone.
“The Dream Weekend now is not the Dream Weekend, say, 10 years ago ... it has evolved. Post-COVID, we moved to a VIP experience only. Patrons asked why they can’t get food at all events, so now they have that. They know the menu for all [eight] parties and also the drinks that are available at each. Patrons were also asking for the all-inclusive hotels,” Bankay shared.
He added, “There are also logistical issues with Negril in terms of growth. So when we hit our ceiling, when we’ve had our big years, the venues would not have been able to accommodate.”
The biggest event for Dream Weekend is Wet n Wild, which, up to last year, was held at Cool Runnings Water Park. That venue has now been sold.
“WAVS has a capacity of 7,000 at its maximum, and at our Wet n Wild parties, we have had upwards of 9,000 people. So there’s a shrinkage of venues, and that does not push us to try and break through that and grow because we don’t have the ability to move past certain ceilings. We are operators, we are not venue owners, so we take what the city gives us. We have solved some of the pain points in the past in terms of traffic and logistics, but there are certain things that we can’t fix, so that’s why we are looking at other options currently,” Bankay said.
President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) Chris Jarrett, seemed to welcome a possible move to Montego Bay. He noted that the capacity in Montego Bay for accommodation “is huge” and that his organisation “supports any event that is nice and clean and brings a lot of heads to beds in the town and in the city”.
“We are happy about any event of this kind that will bring the kind of numbers to Montego Bay ... and international travellers, notwithstanding that we want to cater to the locals. Obviously, when we have the overseas visitors, there is a trickle down .. the people are spending money on the road events and the ‘little man’, as we say, gets a share,” Jarrett stated.
But how exactly are the stakeholders in Negril taking this news?
“Obviously ... any move to reduce income, which I suppose is the bottom line, will not be well received,” the veteran Kingston hotelier said. “They are not happy that this is being considered. But having spoken with the chairman of the Negril chapter [JHTA], they recognise that it’s not their call. It’s the ‘Dreamers’, as they say, who are making demands as to what they want to see and feel at such an event.”
And as Dream Weekend heads to the Second City – possibly – Bankay shared that he has “not been told of anybody who does not want to see Dream in Montego Bay”.
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