San F’do Carnival struggling

YVONNE WEBB

San Fernando Carnival 2018 is bracing for a major hit as money woes are threatening some of the major calendar events and may lead to others being scaled down.

San Fernando Mayor Junia Regrello, who chairs the South Carnival Committee, admitted yesterday that the committee was struggling to pull off premier Carnival event because funding from central government has been significantly reduced.

Additionally, the mayor said, there are several outstanding debts which the National Carnival Commission (NCC) had committed to honour but never did.

Regrello said, “We inherited a deficit of $750,000 when we came into office in 2013, and that is still there five years later. We are owing bandleaders from since last year, and we just can’t seem to overcome those issues, because the budget keeps going down each year with the economy.

“So we are playing catch-up and every year it seems to be getting worse with a decreasing allocation. We got a 20 per cent cut last year, and we are anticipating a further cut this year.”

Among the events in jeopardy is the south pre-Dimanche Gras show, Regrello said, where the south King and Queen of Carnival are crowned, along with the south calypso monarch. Regrello said he was holding talks with the South/Central Zone of the Trinbago Unified Calypso Organisation to stage at least the calypso aspect of the competition. To save costs, he added, the show may be relocated from Skinner Park to the city auditorium.

With respect to the south King and Queen of Carnival competition, Regrello said, “It hangs in the balance.” He is talking with major stakeholders about the format and structure of the show in terms of size and venue, and it could still be held at Skinner Park, he added, but it would not be the big show held in previous years. “We have to revisit that, based on NCC’s input, based on the bandleaders themselves,” Regrello said.

The committee is also reviewing, Regrello said, the staging of J’Ouvert and the parade of the bands on Carnival days along the Rienzi Kirton Highway near the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts. It could be taken back to Harris Promenade, he said, in an effort to save on infrastructural costs. Regrello added that such a decision could result in the corporation saving some $100,000. He said moving the parade of the bands back to the promenade could have its advantages, as the bandstand (sandwiched between the police station and city hall) provides a judging point. With the widening of the street, he said, bands would have a free flow.

But, he said, “We have to wait on the allocation from the NCC to determine all the prize structures and what we can do and what we cannot do. In the interim we have come up with a plan to make changes as we adjust to the new reality.

We still have to have some more consultation with some of the major stakeholders as we go forward.

“It is really challenging and it is really a difficult time for us, so we may have to really, really cut back on some of the events.”

Regrello appealed to the business community to come forward and help the city pull off Carnival 2018 in San Fernando.

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