Full steam ahead for road party despite lack of govt funds

Full steam ahead for road party despite lack of govt funds
Revelers pause for a photo during Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival. (PHOTO: TOURISMTODAY.COM)

Coordinators of the 2018 Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival are moving forward with the annual road party despite the government’s refusal to help fund the event.

According to event organizers, no event delays are expected as the May 5 launch date approaches.

“I know that the bands are definitely moving full steam ahead,” said Bastian, “I believe it’s going to come to a point where this gets so big that the government is going have to come on board anyway. I know that we’re dealing with a lot of political matters right now and the government does things that’s in the best political interest at this point. So, it seems. So, we’ll see what happens.”

Lead costume designer for Masqueraders band, David Rolle, agrees saying the government’s unwillingness to provide funding is the last of his concern.

“Even though the government focus is on other things right we at Bahamas masqueraders are very excited to be preparing for this year’s carnival season,” said Rolle. “We’ve already launched and it was quite successful and well my section, the numbers are coming in and we’re anticipating an overbooked season.”

Both bands recently launched this year’s costumes with Enigma using the theme, “Sugar: Taste the Sweet Life” and the Bahamas Masqueraders as “Jewels of Desire” and both are boasting a record number of subscriptions so far.

“More and more people are gravitating towards what we’re doing so we’re very happy with that,” said Bastian.

Now in its fourth year, the event is attracting interest from as far as Dubai.

“What we found that this year especially we’ve gotten a lot more international people inquiring about the carnival,” said Bastian. “They’ve been watching us for the past few years and they said that this year they will definitely be down for an experience what we’re doing.”

Though the event’s website is at a standstill, the season is expected to officially kick off the first weekend in May filled with a series of events that carnival enthusiasts have enjoyed over the years.

About Theo Sealy

Theo Sealy is an award-winning journalist who serves as senior broadcast reporter and weekend TV news anchor at Eyewitness News. He has achieved several career milestones, including his work as a field contributor with CNN, his coverage of four consecutive general elections, his production of several docuseries and his Bahamas Press Club Awards win for “Best Television News Story” in 2018.