Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter

High-energy dancing, symbolising the African heritage, adds to the excitement at the official opening ceremony for the 18th annual JAPEX Expo, held at the Hilton Kingston hotel, New Kingston, last week Friday. - Photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

THE BOOTHS have been packed away, the floors swept clean and the delegates already back in their homeland climes.

But Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) was another hit with locals and foreigners alike at the Hilton Kingston hotel, and it got off to a wild start last Friday, with a opening ceremony showcasing the best of Jamaica. With strong contingents coming in from South America, Mexico, Russia and Spain (markets we're not all that strong in) from the beginning it promised to be one of the best.

Fun-filled night

There was a little something for everybody at the opening, from the pan chicken (and pork) to the refreshing Kingston Beer and sporty Port Royal Rum. The usual Friday karaoke took a back seat, but guests were still entertained by a diverse group of local performers portraying the various cultures that make up Jamrock. Dwight Pinkney and Friends would later see the guests off with a number of hits.

Guests out included Trinidad and Tobago High Commissioner Yvonne Gittens-Joseph; Argentine Ambassador Mario Piño; Ecuadorian Consul Clelia Barreto de Hunter; Godfrey and Odette Dyer; Horace Peterkin; David Shields; Paul Pennicook; Adam Stewart; Aloun Assamba; Prudence Simpson; Ron Kelly and wife, Bonnie; Everard Chaplain; Greg Dixon; Noel Sloley Jr; Sylvia Bagaloo; Sasheeni Bennett; Sue McManus; Maurice and Valerie Facey; Stephen Facey; Robbie Epstein; Leo Taddeo; June Daley; Chris Hayman; Ian Neita; Irene Graham; Andrea Whyte; Vivian Muir; Jackie Knight-Campbell; Marcia Erskine; Olga Taylor and Millicent Lynch.

Gerald Christ (left), one of the suppliers at this year's JAPEX, chats with Peter Bangerter.

Hats off to you too! Members of the Kingston Chapter of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (from left), Nicola Madden-Greig, Claudette Kenlock and Dollis Campbell, have plenty to smile about.

With that smile, is it a mystery she won? Miss Jamaica Universe 2008 April Jackson leaves Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett basking in her glow.

Tryall's Doug Brooks (left) joins Kevin and Jackie Hendrickson during the cocktail hour at the pre-JAPEX reception hosted by Prime Minister Golding on April 24.

Not that we can blame them, but everyone wants a photo with April Jackson these days. And Wayne Cummings, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, is not about to get left behind.

Beer gentlemen? Karen Miles (left) and Kimberley Ricketts represent the Kingston Beer Jamaicabrand well.