THOUSANDS OF BAJANS painted the Barbados Defence Force’s Paragon range blue, yellow and black last Sunday morning when the Foreday-concept party We Ting came off.
The event was held under the theme Golden and organiser Toni Thorne estimated that just under 2 000 revellers came out to “up de ting” and have a good time at the Christ Church military base in celebration of Barbados’ 50th year of Independence.
This number, she explained, was an increase over the previous We Ting, which came off during Crop Over.
Despite the grand time the attendees eventually had during the mid-to-latter stages of the jump-up, the rain, mixed with mud, made for a sticky situation, causing a delay at the start. Thorne said the wheels of the 50-foot drinks mega-truck got stuck in the ground.
“We had some technical difficulties as a result of our trucks being stuck in the soil, and this caused us to start late because persons had to be shuttled to the start . . . but we have a great relationship with the venue management and we were able to put back the time that we lost at the beginning,” she said.
The maypole was a hit with many of the revellers at We Ting who stopped to dance and plait the strings of the Barbados Landship tradition.
Thorne also told DAILY NATION, that she would understand if any revellers were frustrated by having to wait, and she promised that organisers would go back to the drawing board to make improvements.
When the action finally got going, patrons, who came dressed in the We Ting-branded yellow T-shirts, feted from around 3:30 a.m. till way past sunrise.
DJ music from Ras and Salt, as well as a live band and performance by Bashment Soca Monarch Stiffy, provided the entertainment
Several revellers carried Bajan “bus stops” during We Ting.
With powder, water, paint and sometimes mud flying through theair, marchers jammed along the long stretch with portable “bus stops”, a maypole and whatever else they could find to have fun.
At the end when it was time todig into breakfast, some people were already asking what We Ting had in store for 2017. (TSG)