New location for ‘las lap’

Come August 5, Grand Kadooment masqueraders will be treated to a ‘las lap’ fete at Kensington Oval.   

The National Cultural Foundation (NCF) and Twisted Entertainment announced this afternoon their partnership for Rewhine, the post-Grand Kadooment cool-down. The event which is hosted annually by Twisted Entertainment has a new home at the Oval.

Masqueraders in registered Grand Kadooment bands will be able to enter the venue free, cool down and party to music from international and local deejays into the night, with the event closing with a fireworks display. Patrons who did not jump are not excluded from the party, but they will have to purchase a ticket prior to the event.

“We were looking for a solution to one of the problems expressed by several band leaders that there was no assembly point for revellers when they got down to Spring Garden. After a few meetings, we were able to agree on a concept that is a win-win for both entities.

“We have offered to the band leaders the option of coming down Spring Garden but when they get to the bottom of Spring Garden, the music trucks divert and the revellers go into Kensington Oval where they would be fed and watered. What the NCF would do is put on another layer of deejay entertainment that allows them to party for a bit longer,” explained chief executive officer of the NCF, Carol Roberts-Reifer.

The CEO revealed that the NCF will also announce the dates for Crop Over 2020 at the event and assured that the police was fully on board to ensure the safety of patrons.

She reiterated that partnerships with private promoters were essential to reinvigorating the island’s Crop Over product and ensuring that the festival maintained a competitive advantage.

“We have to inject as much freshness as possible into the Crop Over Festival if we want to compete with the other festivals of the Caribbean. We have to create a product where potential revellers asks themselves ‘why would I go to Barbados?’…  We have to position ourselves in the market as the premiere playground for carnival chasers,” Roberts-Reifer emphasized.

Director of Twisted Entertainment, Damien Sorhaindo said Rewhine, the premium party experience conceptualized in 2016, sought to fill a void in the market, as “there was no real entertainment following the Kadooment jump where members of the various bands could come together in their costumes and party as one”. Sorhaindo indicated the last lap sought to unify masqueraders and normal patrons so they party in peace and enjoy themselves.

“We want revellers from the various bands still in their costumes and everybody to come together and party as one so there is no segregation. It is about uniting people, visitors, locals, everyone… So that is why we wanted to focus on revellers but there may be people who do not jump, for whatever reason, and they are also not excluded from attending the event.”