The Valley Boys made it a “two-straight victory this season by winning both the Boxing Day and New Year’s parades on Bay Street. The Valley Boys also tied for first place with the One Family Junkanoo group in the Best Banner category.
In the ‘A’ Division, The Valley Boys won with 4,768 points; One Family placed second with 4,748 points; Saxons placed third with 4,686 points; Roots came in fourth with 4,372 points; and the Prodigal Sons placed fifth with 4,075 points.
In the Best Music category, Saxons placed first with 1,223 points; Valley Boys came behind in second with 1,197 points; One Family was third with 1,176 points; Roots was fourth with 1,134 points; and the Prodigal Sons placed fifth with 1,110 points.
In the Best Costume category, One Family won with 2,357 points; the Valley Boys was second with 2,338 points; Saxons was third with 2,263 points; Roots came in fourth at 2,105 points; and the Prodigal Sons placed fifth with 1,892 points.
The Valley Boys and One Family tied for first place in the Best Banner Category with 208 points; Saxons placed third with 180 points; Roots came in fourth with 176 points and the Prodigal Sons came in fifth with 141 points.
In the ‘B’ Division, One Love Soldiers won the overall category with 2,021 points; Conquerors for Christ came in second with 1,763 points; Colours placed third with 1,633 points; Original Congos and Z-Bandits tied for fifth.
Youth, Sports and Culture Minister Neville Wisdom said while the 2005 – 2006 Junkanoo season was successful, it was plagued by some familiar problems.
“I certainly was not totally satisfied with the ticket programme,” said Mr. Wisdom.
“The government has divested itself of the ticketing and the seating business, as we have transferred that to the Junkanoo Corporation, but I’m sure that they will be some of the areas that (stakeholders) would look at in the future. But the real challenge is where do we accommodate these crowds that we are getting. That’s the real, real challenge so we are trying as best we can to deal with all those problems.”
Recounting some of the more successful aspects of the parades, Mr. Wisdom said he is pleased with the growth of Junkanoo in The Bahamas.
“I think it’s been a pretty good season,” said the minister.
“It takes a lot of effort, planning and organisation to execute Junkanoo parades throughout the country-so it’s very gratifying to see that we have been able to, through a collaborative effort, accomplish much in Junkanoo over the last two-and-a-half to three years.”
With business hours and operations set to return to normal today following the Christmas and New Year holidays, environmental health officials said Monday that they would work feverishly to ensure that the downtown area would be returned to its pre-Junkanoo condition as soon as possible following conclusion of the Phil Cooper New Year’s Day Parade 2006.
According to Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health Ron Pinder, officials planned to use a variety of systems to complete the clean-up process.
“The Department of Environmental Health Services has its challenge and we must respond to that challenge by moving away from manual labour and focusing more on the use of mechanical equipment whereby we can use less human beings and more machinery to get the area cleaned in a shorter period of time,” he said.
Police, meanwhile, reported that from the perspective of criminal activity, the New Year’s Day parade was uneventful.
“The crowd seemed to have been pretty well behaved,” said police Inspector Walter Evans.
“We had just a few minor incidents that were reported. There were no major incidents reported to the police so we are very, very pleased with that. Junkanoo is a cultural celebration, one that will be observed by all so it’s really our intention and our goal to see to it that the relevant security measures are put in place.”
Displaying themes as diverse as ‘Let’s Play Cards’, ‘Egypt – Ancient Glory and Majesty’, ‘Africa Awaking’, ‘My Bahamas – The Greatest Tourist Resort Destination in the World’, ‘The Bahama Arawaks’, and ‘United We Stand – Message of Hope for a Better World’ six groups were registered to compete in Division A.
Thirteen groups were registered to compete in Division B, three in Division C, and a number of participants in the individual and fun divisions.
By: Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
