diff --git a/kafka/src/main/java/io/specmesh/kafka/provision/schema/SchemaReaders.java b/kafka/src/main/java/io/specmesh/kafka/provision/schema/SchemaReaders.java
index ffbc72ed..a5fee1f2 100644
--- a/kafka/src/main/java/io/specmesh/kafka/provision/schema/SchemaReaders.java
+++ b/kafka/src/main/java/io/specmesh/kafka/provision/schema/SchemaReaders.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 package io.specmesh.kafka.provision.schema;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParser;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
@@ -47,6 +48,11 @@
 
 /** Readers for reading Schemas */
 public final class SchemaReaders {
+    private static final ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
+
+    static {
+        objectMapper.configure(JsonParser.Feature.ALLOW_COMMENTS, true);
+    }
 
     /** defensive */
     private SchemaReaders() {}
@@ -99,8 +105,7 @@ private SchemaReferences resolveReferencesFor(
                 final String filePath, final String schemaContent) {
             try {
                 final SchemaReferences results = new SchemaReferences();
-                final var refs =
-                        findJsonNodes(new ObjectMapper().readTree(schemaContent), "subject");
+                final var refs = findJsonNodes(objectMapper.readTree(schemaContent), "subject");
                 final var parent = new File(filePath).getParent();
                 refs.forEach(ref -> results.add(parent, ref));
                 return results;
diff --git a/kafka/src/test/resources/schema-ref/schema/com.example.trading.Trade.avsc b/kafka/src/test/resources/schema-ref/schema/com.example.trading.Trade.avsc
index 365451d0..9dff5db2 100644
--- a/kafka/src/test/resources/schema-ref/schema/com.example.trading.Trade.avsc
+++ b/kafka/src/test/resources/schema-ref/schema/com.example.trading.Trade.avsc
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
     {
       "name": "detail", "type": "string",  "doc": "Trade details."
     },
+// some comment - works
     {
       "name": "currency",
       "type": "com.example.shared.Currency",