It is now several days since what was supposed to be our annual August Emancipation Festival has ended. However, it was nothing more than a big party for those persons whose sole interest is partying. But to those of us who want to see improvements to our annual celebration, it was just not what many were looking forward to.
Let me start with the street decorations. If you drove from Port Purcell into Road Town as far as Palm Grove Shopping Centre, you would have noticed pennants advertising the 60th Festival celebration. On some poles, there were two flags, and in the area from the roundabout in Road Town to Palm Grove Shopping Centre there were flags on both sides of the road. From Palm Grove to McNamara, there were pennants only, with the exception of one flag in front of the Ports Authority building. From McNamara to Fort Burt, where the other end of the town begins, there were no flags, pennants or decorations.
This being such a grand celebration, one would have thought that some kind of decorations would have been placed at the Old Administration Building, at the Sir Olva Georges Plaza, and on Main Street. These were the three main venues in our beginning where everything took place. We had no Waterfront Drive, and the present location of the Sir Olva Georges Plaza was the site of the old marketplace. Sir Olva is the only Virgin Islander knighted by the English monarch, and I find the lack of decorations in the plaza to be an insult to the memory of this man and complete disrespect to all true Virgin Islanders. However, if you were in the area of Lower Estate Road, you would have seen a whole lot of pennants at the end of the road just before you enter Huntums Ghut. Question: Who placed them there and who paid for them? If it was private finances, that is not a problem. However, if it was the Festival Committee, then we have a real problem.
Roundabout photos
Safety should always come before beauty. However, it seems that this combination is always at odds here in the VI. In this instance, I make reference to the decoration of the Road Town Roundabout. It was a beautiful sight and display. However, it was not practical, as no one driving could read the names of all the people. While I am not sure what the laws of the VI say, I do know that common sense dictates that walking around a roundabout is stupid and dangerous. So why the pictures of all these Festival queens were placed there is beyond me. In my humble opinion, it would have made a whole lot more sense to display these pictures at the plaza and the Old Administration Building.
The parade
As for the August Monday Parade, it is difficult to determine where to start, but I must say after speaking with many people and hearing others discuss it, it has to be once again classified as another disaster. I will admit that there were a few interesting troupes that featured some history and culture, and I was very happy to see Anegada and Jost Van Dyke represented. With the few exceptions mentioned, however, the parade was the biggest disaster ever, according to one spectator — and, believe it or not, this spectator was not a Virgin Islander but a Caribbean expatriate. The remainder of the parade was nothing more than another big “carnival party.” On one of the trucks there was blatant disrespect by one of the singers, who talked about “j’ouvert” rather than the “Rise and Shine Tramp” and how we must “jump up like we do for Carnival in Dominica.” It shows how much disrespect so many people have for the names of our “Rise and Shine Tramp” and our “Festival” — and all this happens with the blessing of the Festival Committee.
‘Half-nude’ paraders
This year seemed to have just as many half-nude women and children and as much vulgarity as usual. Yes, there was lots of gyrating between males and females in the presence of children. The minister and the entire committee still failed to realise that our Festival is supposed to be a family-oriented event — not an opportunity for children to follow the bad examples being set by adults.
With all of this disappointment, the premier had the nerve to insult the intelligence of Virgin Islanders by saying that this was the best Festival ever and claiming that the booth owners benefited tremendously — as if the Festival is designed for people to make money rather than to expose our history and culture. This tells me that the premier has no idea what our Festival is supposed to be.
Once again, for those of you who do not understand, or who do not want to understand, our Festival is supposed to demonstrate and depict our history and culture. This means that young people and visitors at the end of the Festival would have had a better idea of who we are and where we came from.
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