The annual St. Philip Festival season, which runs this year from October 5th to its climax with a Carnival Day on December 1, has been hailed as a shining example of what communities can achieve culturally and organisers have been congratulated for leading a cultural resurgence in the east.
The words of encouragement came last week from the Hon. Steve Blackett, Minister of Culture and Community Development, as this year's St. Philip Festival season was officially launched at a ceremony held at the Tropical Winds Apartment Hotel, Long Bay, St. Philip.
The St. Philip Festival stands as an example of what communities can achieve without the help of central government. The organisers must be congratulated for their perseverance and creativity, for holding fast to their vision to decentralise cultural activity and for their self-reliance in raising their own funds, Blackett noted.
However, the minister also called on the private sector to give their full support to the further development of the St. Philip festival.
My ministry is in full support of the St. Philip Festival. The call goes out again to the business community to take this opportunity to give their support, tangible and otherwise, to the festival. This is a fast-growing festival. It stands in a unique position to bring resurgence to cultural activity in the east and to help foster the growth of a stronger Barbados.
Blackett noted further that the Ministry of Community Development and Culture recognised that the success of the various local festivals in Barbados depended on building synergies between those festivals, the community and various ministerial departments.
He said community festivals like those in St. Peter, Oistins, as well as St. Philip could be seen as a means of developing the incredible pools of talent in the connecting communities. He called on Barbadians to join in following the call to lift this country up as sung by calypsonian Bumba.
In the Ministry we recognise that many of the community clubs which existed some 20 or 30 years ago have disappeared and in many cases wholesome community activity is non-existent or has been replaced by nefarious activities such as gambling and drugs and gang warfare, Minister Blackett stated.
This years St. Philip Festival began yesterday with a service at the Beulah Methodist Church Other events to come include a motorcade starting and ending at Rices Playing Field on October 11, immediately followed by an opening ceremony, and a gospel concert at Six Roads on October 19 at 4 p.m. An all-day Soccer-rama comes to Bayleys Pasture on October 25 and on the following day Pan and Folk in the East will come off at Three Houses Park. The action then jumps into the month of November with a Heritage and Culture Fair on November 15 and the Festival climaxes on December 1 with the big Carnival Day, which converges as usual on King George V Memorial Park.
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