Members of various faiths made contributions to the opening ceremony. Leaders of the various churches, faith organisations were joined by Acting Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth, Patrick Todd (right). Monsignor Vincent Blackett who gave opening remarks is second right.
Black Rock Folk Festival gets under way
Tue, 08/16/2016 - 12:00am
By:
Peta Rowe-Forde
From August 14th until August 21st, residents in Black Rock and surrounding communities will be treated to a week of activities surrounding the inaugural Black Rock Folk Festival. The Black Rock Cultural Centre came alive on Sunday evening as the opening ceremony for the festival was launched.
The ceremony featured entertainment pieces from all faiths within the area; but along with this that start of the festival was heralded with welcome and opening remarks by Monsignor Vincent Blackett. Monsignor Blackett, commenting that the Black Rock community is an oasis of talent, highlighted some of the many prominent and well-known people in society who were birthed and raised in the area. Moreover, he noted that against this background, the wealth of talent and skill as it progresses through the years, will rival the Holetown and Oistins festivals.
Delivering the feature address was Acting Minister of Sport, Culture and Youth, Patrick Todd. Having lauded the organisers for having a multi-faith approach, Todd commented that the Festival is probably the only one that is led by the church which shows that the church is playing its role in the community.
In addition, he congratulated the committee for making its presence known on the cultural landscape of Barbados and made mention some of activities including: a market day and Q in the Community which are set to be made a part of the festival in the future. Pledging the Ministry’s support behind the initiative, Todd lamented that festivals such as Black Rock, Holetown and Oistins are instrumental in bringing communities together in peace and in harmony.
To this end, the Minister believes that such initiatives can result in a major reduction in gang violence and a tremendous increase in pride of oneself and the community. Therefore, he communicated his joy to learn that the festival would continue on an annual basis as they work to transform society, one community at a time. In high anticipation of what will follow in the coming days, Todd stated, “Let us show the rest of Barbados what is possible when we seek to build our respective communities.”