WHETHER IT WAS the weather or the stormy economic conditions, patronage at Old Year’s Night parties and fetes dipped this year.
Traffic crawled from Bay Street to Trevor’s Way, St Michael, as Barbadians and visitors took advantage of every vantage point to watch the fireworks displays. At some events, however, organizers prepared for smaller crowds.
Lavish, one of the all-inclusive parties offered for Old Year’s Night, catered for 400 people. One of its organizers believed that people were not partying as much to ring in the new year because it was difficult to get an experience which was worth the money.
“We were quite aware that Old Year’s Night for them was quite an underwhelming experience so we knew that the excitement to go to any event, especially an all-inclusive would have been low this year,” Kevon Henry said during an interview yesterday.
“There was that apathy towards people taking the money and not delivering what they promised . . . so it was important to survive that attitude and move forward in years to come.”
He added that the “uncertainty of 2014 was one of the biggest challenges” faced by the planning team for the inaugural party, held at West Vista, near Vaucluse, St Thomas. However, he believed the quality would speak for itself.
“The demographic we are catering for is penny-smart and they are looking for value for money. People don’t mind spending money on having a good time, but they need to know that in these times . . . it will be a worthwhile investment.”
Operations manager at the Crane Residential Resort, Korey Boyce, reported that while its annual dinner was a sold-out affair, the Midnight Train To Crane did not have as many passengers on board.
“We had about 300-plus people for the dinner but around 200 people for the party, so there was a fall-off,” Boyce told the WEEKEND NATION in a telephone interview.
The party featured the eclectic sounds of Barbadian band Brass Soul.
The numbers for the street party were “about the same” as last year, he continued, but patrons arrived just before the countdown to the new year. As for the price, the operations manager noted that even though costs had increased this year, the hotel management believed it was “important to stay true to clients”, most of whom were visitors to the island.
“We were very aggressive with the price in terms of the menu. The cost was not that much more and we decided not to pass on that additional cost to the customers,” he explained.
“We found that the price worked for us and we kept it the same. We were fully booked last year and we were fully booked again this year.”
Promoters Bajan Boyz Entertainment also noticed a decrease in numbers at its event. One of its members, Adrian Sealy, said 900 people went to Kensington Oval for Ecstasy, a significant drop from the 3 000 who attended in previous years.
“We were expecting more but the weather played a big part in why people did not come out. Majority of people told us that the rain kept them from coming,” Sealy said yesterday morning.
The inclement weather also caused them to change the location of the party from the western concourse to 3W’s Stand. However, Sealy said there was no major loss in revenue. (LW)
