The verdict is in!
Grand Kadooment masqueraders will once again play mas from Warrens to the Mighty Grynner Highway.
Just one day after the Minister with responsibility for Culture Senator Dr. Shantal Munro-Knight announced that the Crop-Over 2023 Festival will return to its full calendar of events, officials from the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) told the media that the decision had been made to return to the traditional route.
Last year, the parade ran from the Everton Weekes roundabout in Warrens to the J.T.C Ramsay (Bussa) roundabout, splitting the opinions of revelers, bandleaders and spectators on the route.
However, exiting a meeting with bandleaders at the NCF’s West Terrace office on Saturday afternoon, Chief Executive Officer Dr. Carol Roberts-Reifer explained that while the new route had worked within a hybrid COVID-19 environment, the traditional route could not be beaten for an authentic Grand Kadooment jump as it involves the surrounding communities.
“The traditional route is authentic. When you see coverage of that route, it could only be one place. Eagle Hall could only be Eagle Hall and then when you end on the Mighty Grynner Highway – that vista of Brandon’s beach can only be in Barbados and there are lots of other things that work. Our ‘mas brings about a sense of community. There are little intangible pluses to the traditional route that we’re going to develop even further,” she added.
Roberts-Reifer admitted that there were some issues with the traditional route that have to be ironed out.
“There is work to be done. The route works. It has worked in the past for several years, but it needs some tweaking. And there are some challenges as you can expect with the passage of time, and then that is where we will engage our other stakeholders – the police, security, the BTMI and DEM to really make it a spectacle,” she added.
Several meetings with other festival stakeholders are planned for the rest of the week, as well as the Crop-Over calendar launch.
“Our first meeting just concluded with the Association of Masqueraders Grand Kadooment and Junior Kadooment, and the Foreday Morning Collective, and we’re going back inside now to meet with event promoters and the Entertainers’ Association of Barbados. On Tuesday, we meet with the tent managers and BACA (Barbados Association of Creatives and Artistes) and then we start with our government stakeholders: BTMI, police and the DEM. So by Thursday, we will have completed all of our stakeholder meetings and then we will come back to you on Friday, which is when we will launch the calendar and all the details,” she added.
NCF Chairman Dr. Jasmine Babb added, “I think it is good for us to go through the community. I think the community along that route really enjoys the Crop Over and I’m glad honestly that we’ve gone back there. It’s better for vendors as well as people can come out and sell their little sweet bread, the fishcakes, the water and whatever, and everybody can make a little dollar along the way and I quite like that plus the community spirit in terms of supporting the masqueraders on the road.”
Also pleased with the return to the normal route, Spokesperson for the Foreday Morning Collective, Director of Colors Entertainment and bandleader Brian Worrell told the press that the issues that had resulted with the previous call for a new route were to be worked through with the NCF.
“We will now have to, through a process of meetings with the NCF, look at the adjustments that need to be improved for what we had left there before,” he stated.
