FROM LEFT: Former Chairperson of the Oistins Festival’s Organising Committee, Herbert Yearwood standing with Chairperson of the Oistins Festival’s Organising Committee, Toni Thorne; Marilyn Sealy, Senior Manager with FLOW for the Southern Caribbean; and Creative Director of the Oistins Festival’s Organising Committee, Israel Mallet.
Changes coming to annual festival
Patrons attending the upcoming FLOW Oistins Festival can expect changes and several new additions to this event.
Chairperson of the Festival’s Organising Committee, Toni Thorne, revealed this as she spoke to the media on the side-lines of Tuesday’s press briefing at Oistins Bay Gardens.
One major change to the Festival is the rebranding of its name, as no longer is it being called the Oistins Fish Festival.
Another change this year Thorne pointed out is with the start of the Festival. It will commence this Saturday, April 13, with a free Easter Bonnet Making Workshop for children and it will run until Easter Monday. Also on this occasion, the Festival has extended hours and it will be going from nine in the morning until 11 at night, rather than its previous 10 pm cut off time.
Meanwhile, some of the new additions include: the introduction of the Standards Celebrity Cook-Off; a Book Club Reading; a Bajan Story Telling session; a Folk Concert; a Pan Concert in the Bay Gardens and the Mobile Cinema, which will occur on Good Friday, in conjunction with the US Embassy.
Thorne stated that alterations and additions to the event took in consideration feedback given by participants and patrons who attended previous Festivals. She however gave the assurance that some traditional elements such as the Greasy Pole Competition and the Dolphin Skinning Competition have been kept.
“Change is not easy for anyone and one thing when we talked to persons coming to the Festival… people tended to be a little displeased with some of the offerings. You always hear, ‘Oh, a whole set of plastic things’ and we have tried to cut down on that, especially given the fact that we are on the eve of going green as a nation.”
She added, “It is our hope in terms of zoning the Festival, persons can come and have an experience just manoeuvring throughout the Festival. So we have an Arts and Craft Zone, the Fashion Zone, I spoke previously about the Spa Zone. So it is not like you take a whole set of stalls that have offerings and just throw them at a wall and spatter it how it is, there is structure.”
During Tuesday’s press briefing, Thorne was presented with a cheque in the sum of $25 000 by Marilyn Sealy, Senior Manager with FLOW for the Southern Caribbean. Sealy said the telecommunications provider is happy to be the title sponsor of the April 13 to April 22 event which will be held in this southern fishing district.
(MG)