The line-up was revealed at the annual Junkanoo drawing held at Arawak Cay, Saturday afternoon.
A festive crowd gathered at the event, which grew in size when representatives of the “A” or major groups gathered on stage to pull a number. The order of the draw was reversed this year from last year – the group which drew first last year, drew last this year and vice versa.
The Saxons will perform under the theme, “The true meaning of Christmas”.
Following the Saxons will be the Music Makers with the theme, “Celebration of Life”, and a new group, Prodigal Sons, will perform third under the theme “Portraits of Expressions”, featuring a live wedding.
Fourth will be Barabbas and the Tribe, with a theme to be announced. The Valley Boys will be fifth in the line-up under the theme “The Great Roman Empire”, and One Family will be sixth, coming out with “Mighty Works of God’s Creation”. Roots will be the last group to perform in the “A” category, their theme – “World Crisis”.
The purpose of the random system drawing is to remove any confusion over which group should perform first or last. One organiser said the system was a good one because the picking of numbers sets up a “mind game” for the participants. He said most groups do not wish to, on the other hand, some group members are so confident, they actually like to perform first, assured that no other group could trump their performance.
Every group, which will be performing in this year’s Boxing Day parade, was represented at the drawing. Thirty-seven groups are expected to perform; seven in the “A” category and 16 in the “B”. There are six “fun” groups – three will be performing on Boxing Day as well as 13 individuals.
Minister of Youth Sports and Culture, Neville Wisdom said because of the increase in the number of groups, the parade would begin at 11:30 p.m., with the opening ceremony followed by the honouring of John “Chippie” Chipman.
“And at 12 sharp, the horn will sound to officially begin the parade and we will have some very special surprises, which I cannot disclose right now,” the minister said.
He could not say whether the parade would be finished by 9 a.m., but indicated instead that with the 37 groups, it would be a challenge to get all of them in and out in a reasonable time. He said the new major group, “Prodigal Son”, was very large and most of the other major groups have expanded. He explained that the National Junkanoo Committee (NJC) would have a tremendous job on its hand to ensure that everything goes smoothly, and everyone does what he or she is supposed to do.
“I understand that they (NJC) and the police are looking at the area of Rawson Square to ensure that only people who are supposed to be there, are there. The Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture has nothing to do with the judging system,” he stressed.
He said the NJC alone has the responsibility of selecting, training and ensuring that the judges do a fair job. He added that he only asked the NJC to explain, before the beginning of the parade, the system used for judging, what judges are looking for and how judges are selected.
On seating, the Culture Minister said most of Rawson Square has already been accounted for. He said he was trying to find additional seating, because the ministry is now projecting, just as during the last hours before last week’s junior Junkanoo parade, the existing seating would be sold out.
He said tickets go on sale today; he advised residents to get theirs as early as possible.
He emphasised the importance of security, saying that he is meeting with the police and all of the strategic partners in the parade today at 10 O’clock, to deal with traffic management, ticketing and security. He said the ministry would be extending the security checkpoints, pointing out that the move was vital for safety. “We are not going to surrender the parade to hooligans and many of the young men who want to come out and make trouble will encounter the force of the police.”
All of the groups performing in the Boxing Day Parade are also scheduled to perform in the New Year’s Day Parade except for three other ‘fun’ groups – “Alpha Kappa Alpha”, “Emma Community Junkanoo Club”, and “Track Road iiii”, a new group, which will perform in the New Years Day Parade only.
By Mindell Small, The Nassau Guardian
