Grand Bahama Junkanoo fans will miss out on the opportunity to see the long-standing rivalry between the Valley Boys and the Saxons play out on the streets of Freeport when the ‘Feel the Rush’ takes place this summer.
The Valley Boys, winners of the New Providence New Year’s Day Junkanoo Parade, have declined the invitation from ‘Feel the Rush’ organizers to participate in this year’s event.
For the second consecutive year, the organizers extended an invitation to the top three finishers of the New Year’s Day Parade in the capital and the top two finishers in the second city.
In that vein, the Valley Boys, One Family, and the Saxons were invited along with the Classic Dancers and The Swingers in Grand Bahama to compete in the parade slated for the August Monday holiday.
Public Relations Director for ‘Feel the Rush’ and C-Cube spokesman Peter Adderley was the guest on Junkanoo Talks, a Saturday radio talk show and stressed that there was no controversy.
He confirmed that the Saxons and One Family have accepted the invitation and the organizers are now awaiting the signing of the fourth place finisher, Roots.
“The Valley Boys have indicated that at present they have some financial restraint and so they have not signed on,” Mr. Adderley said, adding that the Valley Boys is a model organization which has contributed much to the development of Junkanoo in The Bahamas.
“No one, and we certainly don’t, look at the Valley Boys any differently,” Mr. Adderley said. “They just simply, at this time, cannot afford to participate in the parade.”
He pointed out what the fans and organizer got from the Valley Boys in the first year as it demonstrated the confidence and the courage to come to Grand Bahama.
“There is no controversy here,” Mr. Adderley reiterated. “We have extended an invitation, (and) two of the three have accepted. And as we’ve indicated from we initiated this programme, once we would have invited the top three and one of the three cannot come, for whatever reason, we’d then go to the fourth place finisher.”
Roots still has a number of days to sign on.
If they are unable to, Mr. Adderley explained, then organizers would move on to the fifth place finisher in the New Year’s Day Parade.
The impetus behind ‘Feel the Rush’ was to create an incentive and a higher interest in the New Providence New Year’s Day Parade, as there were 99.9 percent of the seats being sold for the Boxing Day Parade and a lower percentage for New Year’s Day, said Mr. Adderley.
Organizers thought to add some greater interest by giving the top three finishers in the New Year’s Day parade an opportunity to go to Grand Bahama and compete for more funds.
The groups have a chance at over $75,000 cash in prize monies with simple judging and would be given a different theme each year.
Cognizant of the financial challenge involved in transporting a Junkanoo group, Mr. Adderley said C-Cube underwrites the travel cost for 200 members of each group from New Providence to Grand Bahama and back, provides 50 rooms per group, and provides seed monies to the groups in preparation for the parade.
Because the event started late, the seed money was $12,000. This year the groups will receive $10,000 each.
Mr. Adderley noted that what the groups do with the seed money is not C-Cube’s business, but it is geared to assist in the preparation.
Junkanoo Talks’ Host Jackson Burnside is convinced that the bigger picture is the economic and social impact.
“The question of who wins and who loses is always, in my mind, secondary to what this event called Junkanoo can do to help to uplift, particularly the young men,” he said.
The Junkanoo enthusiast questions, however, whether the focus is on the right thing: getting the message across that ‘Feel the Rush’ has more to do with taking a spirit to Grand Bahama that is going to uplift the island, its economy and expose The Bahamas to young men in New Providence who, before now, had no opportunity to travel.
Mr. Adderley, when questioned about the objection to dividing the $75,000 in prize monies between the groups and having the prizes be less or tokens as in trophies, stated that they had explored that idea, and “groups wanted to compete.”
Brian Adderley, chairman of the Valley Boys, phoned in to say that they had not accepted the invitation “and that should have been the end of the story.”
He added that the Valley Boys had given “some reasons” why they hadn’t accepted, but he was reluctant to discuss them on air.
In regards to the question raised earlier about the prize money being split among the three groups to assist in getting them to Grand Bahama, he said that very recommendation was put forth by the Saxons and the groups had agreed.
“But to characterize it as the groups not agreeing for that option is incorrect and I thought I should just call in to clarify that,” he said. “I wouldn’t wish to get into any other discussions on the radio, but I thought it was necessary for the public listening to hear that that was a recommendation which would have been acceptable to the groups.”
Mr. Brian Adderley said the group thought its decision not to go was a private one.
“I don’t understand why it’s something that needs to be debated further,” he said. “I understand that an offer has been made to another group and as far as we’re concerned that should be the end of the story.”
Callers were concerned about ‘Feel the Rush’ clashing with the Fox Hill Parade and the Cat Island festivities on the Emancipation Day Holiday.
Mr. Peter Adderley revealed that they had met with representatives from the Fox Hill Association, and there was the understanding that marketing efforts for those events would have to be stronger.
“Whichever holiday we select, we would be competing with somebody. And, if we did it too early, the groups won’t have sufficient time to prepare. If we tried it on another day, the groups won’t have travel time to get there, perform and to get back to work,” said Mr. Adderley.
According to Mr. Adderley, like every other island, Grand Bahama has every right to have its own signature event.
By LEDEDRA MARCHE, Senior FN Reporter
