Local vending needs to be given more prominence not only during the Crop Over season but throughout the entire Season of Emancipation within which the annual festival falls.
President of the Barbados Association of Retailers, Vendors and Entrepreneurs (BARVEN) Alister Alexander made the suggestion as he expressed concern that the significance of the April 14-August 23 Season of Emancipation has been overshadowed by Crop Over.
In an interview with Barbados TODAY, he said that while many vendors enjoyed more sales during Crop Over this year than last year, he noticed that vending and cultural practices have taken a back seat in the new modern version of the festival.
“Emancipation celebrations in the season need to be more massive than Kadooment. We have to bring out school, church and community into one big creative expression of freedom. We have drifted from when many a Road March calypso would carry serious social messages in defence of the progress of our people or in celebration of our heritage. Now, much of it is frivolous and downright vulgar,” he said.
“Crop Over needs to be a truly family and community festival that all can feel free to participate in. It needs to be a national festival in the truest sense of its historical and social meaning.”
The BARVEN president added that a strong focus on vending and art is needed at Bridgetown Market and during the season in general.
“We are thankful for the establishment of the Bridgetown Market that celebrates our proud vending heritage, but it is time for the markets of Bridgetown to be fully included. They must, at this point in time of our history, be up front in those celebrations if we are serious about reflecting our true republican status,” he said.
“For the Bridgetown Market, BARVEN would also like to see the creativity. The things that we made and did to emancipate our spaces, to make our communities our very own throughout the struggle should be given the greater focus,” Alexander added.
(SB)
