Mixed reactions to new Pic-O-De-Crop venue

Barbadians are divided over the decision to move the Courtesy Garage Pic-O-De-Crop Finals from Kensington Oval to CARIFESTA House, Waterford, to make way for the State funeral for National Hero Sir Garfield Sobers.

While some have accepted the switch, others questioned whether a postponement or another venue would have been a better option.

The National Cultural Foundation (NCF) announced on Wednesday that finals will remain one week from Friday at the same start time of 8 p.m., but will instead be held at CARIFESTA House after Kensington Oval was designated for Wednesday’s farewell to Sir Garry. 

The NCF said the short turnaround between the funeral and the competition made it impossible to adequately prepare the venue for both events.

Priscilla Giles told Barbados TODAY while there has been debate surrounding the move, she believes the decision is understandable:

“It’s not a big deal to me. I’m on split opinions, but most of it just boils down to it’s not really a big deal.”

But she acknowledged that the relocation raises practical concerns for patrons and businesses.

“You have the concern that any tickets you bought… if you can just go with the same tickets you had, if there’ll be less opportunities to be in the area because it might be smaller.”

She also questioned how the change could affect vendors:

“You’re now thinking of the vendors and the people who would have been at Kensington having now to relocate, find locations to set up… if you had 100 vendors, are 100 vendors going to be easily accommodated in a new space.”

Giles continued: “We are currently grieving for a national icon, a national hero… you want a large space to accommodate the large amounts of people… you’re not just grieving for his passing, you’re also celebrating his life.

“One way or the other, things should work out if they have the aspect done right, but the general public just will enjoy one way or another.”

Omar said the venue itself does not matter much to him, but he believes the finals could have been delayed instead.

“It ain’t really a significant change for me. It don’t really affect me.”

He said he understands the significance of Sir Garfield Sobers’ funeral but suggested another option.

“I think they could have postponed it to like two weeks, week and a half… by then Crop Over would be finishing up. Kadooment would have passed.”

Junior “Rambo” Hamilton, welcomed the switch to CARIFESTA House, saying the venue is better equipped to host an event of this scale.

“It’s a more suitable place based on the location and the utilities with toilets, etcetera.”

But he acknowledged that parking could become an issue.

Benjie Alleyne argued that while Kensington Oval remains an appropriate location for the calypso competition, he believes the National Botanical Gardens were “the best place for any kind of shows”. 

He praised the venue’s layout and comfort: “It’s a ventilated area. You can’t be hot.

“It could hold various amount of people… you could set up VIP, you could still get seats, chairs for people that can’t really stand too long and you would still got party area.”

For the past three consecutive years, the National Botanical Gardens served as the venue for the Pic-O-De-Crop Finals before it was scheduled to return to Kensington Oval.

Staff at one ticket outlet told Barbados TODAY that, so far, only one patron has returned a ticket following the announcement of the venue change.

The NCF said production teams are working to adapt the venue’s staging, sound, lighting, audience flow, accessibility and other logistics to ensure the Pic-O-De-Crop Finals is delivered to a high standard while Barbados pays tribute to one of its greatest national icons.

(LE)