One of Crop Over’s private free fetes, Soca On The Beach cooler-beach party, that would have seen possibly hundreds of party-goers descend on and trample the island’s prime Hawksbill nesting site, was called off hours before it was scheduled to blast off on Sunday.
And while promoter Rudy Maloney has declined to calculate his losses, he said neither 4D Entertainment nor sponsor Yello had any intention of harming the critically endangered marine species.
Matters came to a head Sunday when an early morning post from the Barbados Sea Turtle Project to its Facebook page, went viral and was picked up by Acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw, who summoned Minister of the Environment with responsibility for the National Conservation Commission Trevor Prescod, Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy Kirk Humphrey, 4D Entertainment’s Maloney and representative of Yello Media Group, Sabrina Greenidge to a meeting at Drill Hall Beach to solve the problem.
It ended with the news that the 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. event had been cancelled, and the organisers and promoters were looking at a different date and venue.
Maloney said he could not say how many people would have attended the free event and he declined to reveal how much money had been pumped into it.
“But I can say [it was] lots of money we had pumped into the venture. It’s like any event that would have been held. We did the same set-up – entertainers; everything that goes into an event we did,” he said.
He added it was simply a matter of miscommunication.
“We got instructions from the NCC [National Conservation Commission] on where we could set up and we also had a meeting scheduled with Carla [Daniel] from the Sea Turtle Project, but that didn’t come off,” he said.
“And based on that, I could say there was not enough information and this is why this is happening today, because there is never enough information that came from the relevant parties,” Maloney said.
The promoter stressed the damage was unintentional as the business never meant to harm wildlife.
“The fete has been cancelled based on mutual agreement among all the parties – the ministries, the Government ministers and the Sea Turtle Project. The best thing to do is to cancel the event and find an alternative time and venue.”
Bradshaw said the last-minute dialogue and resolution showed a “greater need” for “inter-sectoral linkages among Government ministries, whether it is tourism, whether it is the environment, whether it is the green economy or whether it is education”. (HLE)
