Even as bandleaders report slow sign-ups for this year’s Grand Kadooment, revellers are being assured they still have a wide array of bands to choose from, despite one of the biggest names pulling out of the jump-up this year.
That assurance has come from president of the Barbados Association of Masqueraders (BAM), Anthony Layne who said the majority of bands had already launched and were kicking into high gear with less than two months to go until Kadooment Day.
Last month, the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) reported that 14 Grand Kadooment bands and 16 Foreday Morning bands had confirmed their participation in this year’s Crop Over festivities.
Speaking to Barbados TODAY, Layne said last Friday’s announcement by Baje International that they were pulling out of Grand Kadooment after the last 21 years of participation, because of logistical challenges, was “unfortunate”. However, he stressed that most other bands were in their final stages of preparation.
“Baje is a staple name in Grand Kadooment for many years and goes back 15-20 years or so, so it was very unfortunate, but I understand their position – their business model and how they do business, it wasn’t possible in terms of the timeline,” Layne said.
“So far, nearly all of the other bands have launched so far. I think there are only about two more bands that haven’t launched as yet and they are supposed to be launching quite soon.”
Layne admitted, though, that there had not yet been a rush by revellers to sign up.
However, he said he expected that to change in the coming weeks.
“We are quietly optimistic that the traffic will increase between now and the next four weeks, which will put you anywhere between now and mid-July. Barbadians are usually late people, so we just hope that around that time things will improve and traffic will increase for all of the bands,” the BAM president said.
“If I speak about Contact band, we usually get most of our people between June and July and we’ve now started June really. The majority of our people for both Foreday and Kadooment, they would usually pick up significantly around the end of June into July, and some of the other people, I guess they go through the same. In speaking to some of the bandleaders, some of them are really now getting ready to push.
“Be mindful of the fact, too, that bands would have only launched over the last week or two, so they now have to start to push and see how things go,” he said.
Layne admitted, however, that bandleaders were expecting reduced numbers overall.
“We don’t expect the same numbers obviously. We expect the numbers will be smaller but you are still hoping that things will change and we will get bigger numbers,” he said.
“All of the bands have put forward their projected numbers and all bands are lower than what they normally are pre-COVID. In other words, the projected numbers are a lot lower than what we normally have. We know where we are at now, so we’re just hoping things would pick up as they normally do in June into July.”
When Grand Kadooment is held on August 1, revellers will jump from Warrens along the ABC Highway to the Emancipation Statue culminating at the National Stadium.
Foreday Morning revellers, meantime, will have two jump-up options – King George V Memorial Park to Lucas Street and into Bushy Park, St Philip; and Searles, Christ Church to the Lowlands Roundabout and back to Searles. randybennett@barbadostoday.bb
