THE ST PHILIP CARNIVAL is off!
That is the word from co-founder of the St Philip Carnival Committee, Michael Lashley.
Lashley, who is also Minister of Housing and Lands, told the DAILY NATION that the decade-old masquerade was cancelled this year.
Chairperson of the committee, Corrolita Doughty, said yesterday that the committee would not be hosting the parade on November 30 because of “one, the economic climate within the country, since we depend on the sponsors for the financing for the carnival and, two, we held off mainly because when we first heard of the Prime Minister’s illness we decided then we didn’t want to go ahead and plan anything in the event of his death.
“It would have been disrespectful to be hosting a carnival during a period of mourning or shortly after his death because he was also associated with the St Philip Carnival. His band Families First was one of the bands in the carnival from inception,” she said.
Meanwhile, president of the St Catherine Primary School Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), Dale Forde, said since they were also made aware that the carnival would be set aside this year, the PTA would be going forward with its own event to fill that void.
“Our fair was cancelled because of the Prime Minister’s death on October 23. We had then postponed it to November 6, but a lot of the people who would have been working with us had sustained damage [from Tropical Storm Tomas] as well.
“So after consultation with people in the community, as well as [Member of Parliament] Michael Lashley, we decided we would have the St Philip Culture Fest instead.
“It is a free event where we plan to showcase things that are indigenous to Barbados, like warri games, displaying indigenous foods, and so on. We are now looking at the entertainment, like having Mikey and Blood, and so on, but many of them will be out of the country . . . plus we are looking at our budget,” she explained.
She added that the cultural family fun day would be held at the Hilda Skeene School playing field on Independence Day, which would also honour the late Prime Minister’s Families First campaign.
