DESPITE THE CHALLENGES faced with sponsorship, the Holetown Festival Committee is optimistic the 39th annual event will be just as good as before.
Chairman of the committee Eon Phillips told WEEKEND BUZZ in a recent telephone interview there would be no overseas bands or speakers that during the eight-day event which starts on February 15.
“We don’t have anybody coming in this year,” he said. “Sponsorship has been very, very difficult. We don’t do [the festival] to make a profit but we’re really hoping we can cover our expenses. We have fewer sponsors than we had last year. We had a couple thousand dollars left over from last year and that would help us and we are doing a Q in the Community on the Saturday, Valentine’s Day, at Trents Playing Field and we’re hoping that will help us make up the shortfall.”
The committee has thought about expanding the festival to Trents playing field to accommodate more vendors, he said. But this was rejected because “I think it would be too disconnected” given that most of the activities were in the Sunset Crest area.
A new calypso show featuring Sweet Soca Monarch Biggie Irie and veteran calypsonians Serenader and Grynner plus a revamped dooflicky are two of the new features this year. The show, scheduled for the penultimate day of the annual festival, stems from “complaints” that there was nothing after the street parade and he is hoping that it “works out for us”.
“I think the dooflicky should be interesting because they’re bringing a new parade. As part of the morning street parade we’re going to be doing a re-enactment of the changing of the guard which is done at the Clock Tower at the Garrison which should add to it,” he said.
Phillips, who co-chaired the festival with late broadcaster and actor Alfred Pragnell before he died in 2004, said a special tribute would be paid to former member Joan Hoffman who died last year.
In addition to the tribute and speeches at that ceremony, there will be performances by Junior Monarch Raanan Hackett, NIFCA gold award-winning steel orchestra Mosaic, Mikey and St Leonard’s Secondary School Boys’ choir, among others.
The annual festival which commemorates the anniversary of the first settlers of Barbados, will be 40 years old next year. Phillips said the committee has already started thinking about celebrating the milestone.
“We’re planning to start very early . . . . One of the things we will be doing is fireworks and we’re looking at a few other things,” said the chairman.
He noted that over the years interest in the festival had not waned as “a lot of tourists plan their holiday around the Holetown Festival. (Green Bananas Media)