Grand Bay, Dominica

This article is about the Dominican village. For other places with this name, see Grand Bay (disambiguation).

Grand Bay
Village
Berekua
Grand Bay (Berekua)
Coordinates: 15°14′20″N 061°18′50″W
Country	Dominica
Parish	Saint Patrick
Elevation	29 m (95 ft)
Population  (2010)
• Total	2,288

Grand Bay, known officially as Berekua or Berricoa, is a village in the south of Dominica. It has a population of 2,288 as of 2010, and is the largest settlement in St. Patrick Parish.

Grand Bay, also called South City, the cultural capital of Dominica, is a vibrant community located along the Atlantic Ocean coast in the south-east of Dominica. To its immediate south across the sea is the island of Martinique.

Geography

The village is surrounded by several scenic mountain ranges including Bois Den to the south, Palmiste to the west, Morne Plat Pays to the north-west, Morne Anglais and Morne Watt to the north, Foundland range to the north east and east. Nestled along the slopes of these mountains are the villages of Bellevue, Pichelin, Montine, Tete Morne, Grand Coulibrie, Dubique and Stowe. The main community of Grand Bay is characterized by its long narrow street called Lallay, on both sides of which the largest population resides. In addition there is Mabouchay, Back Street, Hagley, Wavin Banan, Powell and Berikua, making up the older residential area. Since Hurricane David in 1979, the village has extended to include the new communities of Geneva, Highland, Bala Park and Bolom.

History

Grand Bay has been the first Village in Dominica to have its very own radio station which has existed since the mid-'80s. This radio station is called RADIO En Ba Mango and was founded by the current owner Urban "Man'I" Dangleben as part of his life's work, Urban "Man'I" Dangleben has been a dedicated electronic repairman and a creative and well-crafted talk show, radio and television host. Radio En Ba Mango Started in the mid-80s and is located in the village of Grand Bay in the Commonwealth of Dominica, our call sign is the voice of the South, the mouth of Grand Bay, because our village can be found in the south of Dominica, including the name South City, which is also given to Grand Bay because it's located in the south of the island. The young man behind it all is Urban Dangleben aka Man'I and because of his profession in the field of electronics so because of Urban technical ability hence the creation of the first private commercial radio station on the Island of Dominica, Urban lived in France for a few years then returned to Guadeloupe where he was stationed and worked for several years in the field of electronics, and also in the capacity as an extremely popular Radio DJ and TV talk show host, then nostalgia motivated him to return to his homeland, and few years living in his homeland the new culture did not give him the chance to equipped himself to find the solution to deal with such inexplicable comportment towards him from a large number of his compatriots and one of the main reasons he realized which was behind that was because of the government in power at the moment who granted Radio En Ba Mango the broadcasting license was then Prime Minister Dame Mary Eugenia Charles of the Dominica Freedom Party, in which Urban constituency was on the opposition side of the DFP. Then, seeing that Urban left his homeland at a very young age, he never thought politics had turned out to be not what he knew it was before he migrated to France.

The people of Grand Bay are known to uphold the cultural heritage of Dominica in dance, music, art and craft and language. The cadence music, the creole language and many other traditions are part of the daily life of the community.

Economy

The economy is based mainly on agriculture with the production of a variety of root crops, bananas, other fruits and vegetables for the local and overseas market. There is a small furniture manufacturing industry and many small shops and snackettes. Some people engage in the production of craft items for tourists and locals alike and recently, a small cottage soap making plant was established at Geneva.

External links

• Grand Bay website