St. Lucia Cancels Food Festival

The cancellation of St. Lucia’s Food & Rum Festival, set for Jan. 15 to 19, is the island’s first economic-related casualty on its tourism calendar.

Festival officials said the St. Lucia Tourist Board canceled the event because it had not received the level of sponsorship it had expected. The board initially had forecast that chefs from around the Caribbean region would represent their island’s cuisine.

“Because of the downturn in the economy, this kind of participation by our sister islands fell through,” the tourist board said in a statement.

St. Lucia had intended to hold the food festival concurrently with the Caribbean Hotel Association Marketplace, an event taking place on the island for the first time. The culinary event is expected to be rescheduled for later in 2009.