fp Turks and Caicos

Bay Bistro at Sibonne Hotel won the Best In Show Award for the fifth straight year at the 7th Annual Conch Festival.

This year’s masterpiece was a Princess conch and mushroom crepe with roasted red pepper pesto and cream sauce. The restaurant also was judged to have the best conch salad.

Refresh Restaurant came in a close second in its first ever Conch Festival appearance Nov. 27.

Other restaurants serving up conch creations of all kinds under the tent in Blue Hills were Opus, Hemingway’s, Hole In the Wall, Grace Bay Club, Grace’s Cottage, Salt Mills Café, Caicos Dishes, Simba, O’Soleil, Froggie’s, Rosie’s Delight, Horse Eye Jack’s, Kissing Fish Catering, Aqua II, Tiki Hut, Bagatelle, Seaside Cafe, Pelican Bay and Doos Conch Salad.

In the highly anticipated mojito-making contest, top honors went to the Somerset/O’Soleil, followed closely by Somewhere on the Beach and Aqua II.

The Five Cays Under the Tree Ripsaw band featuring Dennis “Foots” Penn on the saw provided lively music throughout the day. Also, a dozen musicians wrote and sang songs touting Bambarra rum, with Shawn Parker’s song chosen as the best. And of course there was a Junkanoo.

Director of Culture David Bowen was the emcee of the event, which included a variety of kids games, an adults tug-o-war, a culture quiz and the always entertaining conch blowing contest. Santa Claus also made an early appearance.

Major sponsors for this year’s festival included LIME, TCI Lotto, FirstCaribbean International Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, The Wine Cellar, Amanyara, Power 92.5FM, the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board, Carib Gaming, ScotiaBank, Ward Construction, Tropical Shipping, The West Bay Club, The Somerset, Villa Renaissance, Villa del Mar, Grace Bay Resorts, PPC and Lucky Shots. A host of other companies and individuals lent their support.

“Conch-e-tition” Winners

Conch Salad
1st Place: Bay Bistro (Sibonne’ Beach Hotel)
2nd Place: Froggie’s on the Bay
3rd Place: Grace’s Cottage (Point Grace Resort)

Conch Chowder
1st Place: O’Soleil (Somerset Resort)
2nd Place: Salt Mills Restaurant
3rd Place: Grace Bay Club Restaurants

Specialty Dish
1st Place: Bay Bistro (conch crepes)
2nd Place: Grace’s Cottage (conch ravioli)
3rd Place: Seaside Café (Ocean Club West) (conch tacos)

Mojito Contest

1st Place: The Summerset
2nd Place: Somewhere on the Beach
3rd Place: Aqua 2

BAMBARRA SONG CONTEST: Winner: Shawn Parker

CONCH BLOWING:
Adult Conch Blowing $300 Winner: Bob Cerkawnyk Official count was 20 sec.

Kids Conch Blowing $100 Winner: James Toussaint Official Count was 5 sec.

QUIZ:
Cultural Quiz Winners $25 each: Naz Missick & Lobrisha Gardiner ($50)

KIDS GAMES WINNERS: (40 kids signed up)
The Dry Conch Team won the games.
Crack Conch Team Second
Steam Conch Team Third
Conch Salad Team Forth

ADULT TUG-A-WAR (16 adults signed up)
The Dry Conch & Grits team beat Boil Fish & Johnny Cake Team