From Catherine Hall to Plantation Cove - Did you know these Reggae Sumfest factoids?

Over the years, Reggae Sumfest has gone through many changes. From its event structure to the changes in ownership, as well as the introduction of livestreaming, 2026 will mark another change for the globally celebrated musical festival. 
Dubbed ‘The Greatest Reggae Show on Earth’, Reggae Sumfest has its roots in the decline of Reggae Sunsplash. Reggae Sunsplash was created in 1978 by Synergy Productions Ltd and had its first staging at Jarrett Park in Montego Bay. However, by the early 1990s, a loss of sponsorship and a series of relocations – first to Kingston and later to the JamWorld Entertainment Centre in Portmore – led to the festival’s decline. Still, with Sunsplash’s departure from Montego Bay, others saw an opportunity. In her article, ‘A Tale of Two Festivals’, Pat Meschino states that people in Montego Bay could not afford to let the revenue that Sunsplash generated slip away from their city, particularly during the summer. As such, a group of Montegonian businessmen, mostly bankers, established Summerfest Productions to create a music festival to be staged in the island’s second city. Thus, Reggae Sumfest was born. 
The first staging took place from August 11-14, 1993 and was held at the Bob Marley Entertainment Centre in Catherine Hall. Since its inception, the festival has become synonymous with the venue and the city at large. Still, over the years, there have been calls to relocate the festival.
One of the first public concerns over the festival’s relocation was raised back in 2010. At this staging, heavy rains left the venue looking like a reported “mud fest”. One patron in particular told The Gleaner in a July 26 article titled ‘Muddy Sumfest’, “Only pigs are supposed to wallow in this type of mud”.
The poor road conditions in the surrounding community were also of concern. As Johnny Gourzong, the then executive director of Summerfest Productions, stated, they were forced to spend millions of dollars a week before the event to place gravel and sawdust on the affected areas. With this, Gourzong told The Gleaner, “We feel it is time for the government, through the UDC, to provide some type of facility that can accommodate shows of this magnitude. The roads have been in the same condition for 18 years, and no steps have been taken to upgrade them.” 
It is with this complaint by many patrons that “Reggae Sumfest may be forced to relocate to the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium if conditions at the Urban Development Corporation-owned Catherine Hall complex in Montego Bay, St James, are not improved”. This move, if carried out, would have had Sumfest following in the footsteps of the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, which in the past had relocated from St James to its neighbouring parish. 
However, nothing came of the proposal. In 2011, Sumfest was staged at the Catherine Hall Entertainment Complex and continued until 2020, when the festival was forced to have a virtual concert in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2021. Nevertheless, the staging was back at Catherine Hall in 2022 and has been ever since. However, this year, that will change. Due to the extensive damage to western Jamaica caused by Hurricane Melissa in October 2025, this year’s staging of the festival will not be held in Montego Bay. As Josef Bogdanovich, the owner and chief executive officer of DownSound Records and promoter of Reggae Sumfest, told The Gleaner in a March 9, 2026 article titled, ‘Reggae Sumfest 2026 Goes to Plantation Cove for One Night Only’, “The western end of the island, particularly Montego Bay and surrounding areas, has faced significant damage from Hurricane Melissa, including impacts on parts of the hotel sector and event logistics. Rather than cancel or compromise the experience, we made the strategic decision to recalibrate.”
This change of location is not the only change that happened this year: this year’s show will be one night instead of two. As he stated, “This one-night staging in St Ann allows us to deliver something truly unique for fans while giving our partners in the west the time they need to fully recover”.
Still, despite the changes, Bogdanovich made it clear that Sumfest will not be relocated permanently. As he stated, “It’s important to be clear that this is not a relocation of the festival from the Catherine Hall Entertainment Complex. Montego Bay remains the home of Reggae Sumfest and a vital partner in the festival’s history and future … Our commitment to Montego Bay remains firm, and we look forward to continuing to grow the festival there while also opening the door to new markets and new opportunities for Jamaican music worldwide.”
As such, one can be sure that Reggae Sumfest will return to its home soon. 
J.T. Davy is a member of Tenement Yaad Media, where she writes and co-produces their popular historical podcast, ‘Lest We Forget’. Send feedback to jordpilot@hotmail.com and entertainment@gleanerjm.com