THE second Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival will take place on May 5-7 in New Providence, with a kick-off event from April 15-16 in Grand Bahama, the Bahamas National Festival Commission announced last night. According to the BNFC, “intense planning is underway” for the 2016 event, which the group said will be “even better” than the inaugural festival. The Grand Bahama kick-off will take place at Taino Beach while the main event will be staged at Da Cultural Village in Nassau.

The BNFC held its first planning meeting for carnival in mid-January. At the time, Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe said the BNFC had been mandated by Prime Minister Perry Christie to create opportunities for entrepreneurship and cultural expression. However, he could not say how much money has been budgeted for the controversial event.

The government budgeted $9m for the inaugural Junkanoo Carnival, but due to cost overruns and other failures on the part of the commission, that spending ballooned to $11.3 million.

BNFC officials have said this year’s event will cost less than what was spent in 2015.

“We don’t intend to go beyond the budget of last year, it will definitely be less this go around. We have some numbers in mind, but nothing is firm at the moment,” BNFC Chairman Paul Major told The Tribune last month.

Last year organisers were criticised for poor planning, not enough international marketing and not announcing a headliner for the festival’s concert sooner. Mr. Wilchcombe has said this year’s festival would be more structured, better budgeted and constructed in such a way to guarantee a solid return on investment.

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