Trench Town Culture Fest Feb. 4 to Fund Wailers Birthplace Restoration

Reggae’s living room in Trench Town will host a benefit-driven celebration that threads history, sound-system culture, and new voices. The Trench Town Culture Festival is set for February 4, 2026 at Vin Lawrence Park (also spelled Vin Laurence Park) on First Street in Trench Town, and organizers say the event aims to raise awareness and funds for The Wailers’ birthplace restoration.

The bill reads like a cross‑generational roll call. Veteran musicians include Earl “Chinna” Smith (also billed as Earle “Chinna” Smith), Lutan Fyah (listed in some lineups as Lutan Fiyah and Lutan Fyan), and Erup. Young voices and Wailers-affiliated performers include J Written (also shown as JWritten), Dahvid Slur (sometimes David Slur), and Ras‑I, alongside Queen Iminah, Anue Nahki, Marlon Brown, Vania Colours, Jonelle, Kahpun and “and other special guests.” Sound-system stalwarts and presenters will also appear: Jah Love Sound System will lead the presentation with reggae icon Ilawi featured, while Paul Scott’s Sound System Club and Skankadon Sound System will represent Trench Town’s deep sound-system lineage and relationships with outfits such as Sizzla Kalonji’s King Tafari.

The festival sits squarely inside Reggae Month programming that opened with a community grounding earlier in Trench Town. Evelyn (Donna) Carridice, representing the Livingston family, described that moment this way: “A central feature of the evening was the public grounding of Second Street, Trench Town as The Wailers’ Birthplace, presented by the Livingston family – represented by me, Evelyn (Donna) Carridice, and Pearl Livingston (Claudette Livingston), daughters of Thaddeus Livingston, and inclusive of our brother Danny Livingston, the last surviving son of the siblings,” Carridice said. Carridice further placed the family in the movement’s geography and memory: “Nine Miles is where Bunny Wailer first met Bob Marley and where Thaddeus Livingston knew Cedella Booker. Thaddeus Livingston’s grounding as a Revival preacher, ganja farmer and trader, and urban entrepreneur informed a blended, multifamily household structure that incorporated Bob Marley into the Livingston family environment,” Carridice said.

Organizers and hosts named in promotional materials include New Age Rockers and the Trench Town Culture Yard, with partners noted as Virgo Creatives and Dubwise Costa Rica. Festival operational listings vary: “Gates are scheduled to open at 3 PM, with the main show commencing at 6 PM. To ensure a seamless musical experience, the festival also feature a dedicated roster of selectors and disc jockeys, including Icebox, DJ Nattty of King Harar Sound, DJ Steamaz, DJ Brixx, and Satta Sound,” Mariajackson27magazine reports. Ticketing is listed at $1,000 general and $3,000 VIP, with one event listing specifying those amounts as JMD and noting food and drinks will be on sale.

Entertainment consultant Maxine Stowe pointed to the festival’s intergenerational purpose: “It’s an interweaving with the new generation. Two of the members of Wailers Trio, JWritten & Dahvid Slur, who also launched their solo careers last year, are part of a youth collective that is regenerating Culture Yard/Trench Town,” Maxine Stowe explained.

For readers planning to attend, expect a roots-forward night with selectors, sound systems, and acts spanning elders and emerging artists; verify gate and start times, ticket currency and presale options with organizers before you go. The festival offers a chance to support The Wailers’ birthplace restoration while hearing how Trench Town’s culture yard keeps regenerating itself from one generation to the next.