DARIO Terrelli, president of the Bahamas Carnival Band Owners Association, confirmed to The Tribune yesterday that carnival bands will not boycott this year’s festival.
Last week, the association complained when it appeared that the Bahamas National Festival Commission (BNFC) would let the National Insurance Board (NIB) participate as an independent group in the parade without having gone through the same certification process that other groups endured.
However, BNFC Chairman Paul Major confirmed that NIB would participate through an already registered company, thereby putting to rest the association’s concerns on the matter.
“There was never a boycott of a parade,” Mr. Terrelli told The Tribune yesterday. “We boycotted the decision to let NIB enter the parade without coming through the right process. What we did was to apply pressure, but we will continue with one parade.”
Nonetheless, Mr. Terrelli said his association has other complaints, such as the government’s continued failure to provide it with seed funding “as promised.”
“We are still seeking seed money,” he said.
“The prime minister told us that he would support us for a minimum of three to five years. Every festival receives some sort of seed money, whether it’s the Cat Island Rake N’ Scrape Festival association, Junkanoo association or others. Every festival in this country receives money and we haven’t received that.”
Mr. Terrelli said for 150 people to participate in the parade, $50,000 is needed to make it successful.
“You’re talking about trucks, equipment, foods, drinks, importation of items so customs duties are paid onto it; the parade itself needs $12,000 minimum,” he said. “So we’re not just asking for money to make a profit. We’re asking so we can put on the best performances so the world can come.”
With the carnival parade less than a month away, Mr. Terrelli, who heads the Rhythms group, said costume sales are better this year compared to the same point last year.
“Costume sales are far better than last year in terms of people giving deposits,” he said. “There are about 25 plus costumes already purchased or deposits made towards it just from people outside the Bahamas.”
Dr. Beverton Moxey, head of the Masqueraders group, agreed, telling The Tribune his group is “doing exceptionally well”.
“We’re well ahead this year compared to last year,” he said. “Last year people were very slow because carnival was new and people didn’t know what to expect. People weren’t sure how it would come off. When they saw this was going to happen there was a mass influx of people at the last minute.
“But we started from last year with the whole planning for this year’s festival and then with the launch of our costumes in January. We’ve seen international sales come in but the lion’s share of purchases is from local participants. We expect to be as strong if not stronger this year than we were last year.”
Other band leaders who spoke to The Tribune offered a less rosy assessment of where things stand at the moment, however some said sales this year match sales up to this point last year.
For instance, Ann Balfour, head of the group Xstacy, said she expects sales to pick up soon.
“Things are beginning to pick up this week,” she said. “Persons are calling and registering online. It’s the same as last year. What I find is Bahamians are just last minute people. They tend to come at the 11th hour so things will probably pick up in the last week.”
Carnival runs May 5-7 in Nassau.
By Rashad Rolle
Tribune Staff Reporter
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