Crop Over Keeps On Going

Source: Nation Newspaper

This is the time of the year many Barbadians at home and abroad look forward to participating in our national Crop Over festival. What about those who directly participate in the tent goings, singing calypso etc, and the many others who benefit indirectly from the enormous economic activity which flows at this time of the year? We have seen numbers bandied about over the years about the true value of Crop Over to the national purse, maybe up to 400 million dollars. Whatever the true number all who should know agree that it is a significant contribution. Maybe it explains why year after year there is the predictable controversy about how much money should be allocated to the various stakeholders, and the Calypsonians usually head those with cap in hand.

The festival is comprised of several stakeholders e.g. National Cultural Foundation (NCF) and by extension government, musicians, masqueraders, sponsors and others. The festival has come along way since the early 70s. Many Barbadians we are told now depend on the festival for a significant percentage of their annual incomes. Yet again in 2008 there is the hint of a controversy regarding a clash between the show Euphoria staged by a private concern and the NCF’s Cohobblopot. Our recollection appears to be that the same conflict occured last year. Why can’t the stakeholders understand this is our premier national festival and not some rum shop activity? A couple weeks earlier we had the spat between the Calypso associations and the NCF over a planned tribute to Red Plastic Bag. The BU household was split down the middle on that matter but yet again a matter which could have been avoided with good planning and communication between the stakeholders.

We are into the final two weeks of the festival and the plane loads of Barbadians who select this time of the year to return is evident. The car rental agencies are not complaining and Broad Street is starting to bustle, and the strains of the various accents can be heard everywhere on the island. The calypso semi-finals will be held next weekend and the big final show the week to follow along with the many other events. Year after year Crop Over despite the mismanagement seems to be getting bigger. We wonder if better management were to be applied how big Crop Over might become. They are some who have suggested the name should be changed because it has no relevance in 2008, sugar is dead they counter. Whatever the problems which perennially plague this major festival the time has come to forget about them.

It is time to welcome all the Barbadians returning home for some leisure activity as well as the tourists. Let us all continue to play our part to ensure the success of Crop Over 2008.