Barbados' 50th Annual Crop Over Festival: Changes and Highlights for 2022

This is the 50th year of Barbados’ biggest and most impactful festival. And from all accounts, it is shaping up to be a memorable one.

The Crop Over Festival and the Season of Emancipation were launched last week and since then, the changes announced to the former have been a national talking point. But that is to be expected as thousands of Bajans believe they have a vested interest in the annual festival.

While there are many events on the packed Crop Over calendar, Kadooment Day remains the most highly anticipated and the one event attracting the largest number of masqueraders and spectators, with thousands others watching from abroad.

The changes as reported by the NCF are Bridgetown Market being held in the heart of Bridgetown, the return of Fusions which was last staged in 2019, and the change in the Grand Kadooment route.

The news of Fusions has been welcomed while some are still wondering why the traditional Bridgetown Market will be no more.

National Cultural Foundation (NCF) CEO Carol Roberts told the media that several site visits were conducted with the Ministry of Health and the Environment Division, which discovered “very large swaths of land on the Mighty Grynner Highway that are no longer suitable for the kind of set-up that we would traditionally have on the highway”.

The majority of the debate, however, was about the new route for Grand Kadooment. After moving the jump to the ABC Highway in 2022 due to COVID-19 and returning it to the traditional route last year, the Barbados Association of Masquerade proposed a new route which was tweaked and endorsed by the Government.

This year, Grand Kadooment begins from the area of the Bridgetown Helipad. It then proceeds out to Hincks Street, along the Princess Alice Highway, passing Pelican Village; right turn onto Prescod Boulevard (Harbour Road); continuing to the Elsie Payne Roundabout, exiting onto the entire length of President Kennedy Drive, continuing past Kensington Oval and left at Eagle Hall; along Black Rock Main Road to the Frank Worrell Roundabout at the bottom of University Drive (Gordon Cummins Highway); and onto the Mighty Grynner Highway, parading down to Kensington Oval.

President of the Barbados Association of Masqueraders (BAM) Jason Thompson explained that a task force was set up at the end of last year’s Grand Kadooment to analyse the festival. He said that after meetings with the NCF, The Barbados Police Service, the Barbados Defence Force and other stakeholders, it was agreed that there was a need for “change that would make things better for most stakeholders”.

“We saw it as a need for wider roads, based on the experience that many of our bandleaders would like to offer to their masqueraders. We recognise that the spectators are forced to stand on the [sides] of the smaller roads and therefore there was a need for party zones . . . areas where persons can purchase from a stall, listen to some music and enjoy themselves within that space while they are waiting for the other bands to pass.

“Having a route that offers a picturesque view of our beautiful beaches is one added benefit to Destination Barbados, and finally, having a system that can be easily managed by the police and the armed forces.”

Safety remains a priority for BAM, revellers, spectators, the security services and the NCF. Last year, there was the unfortunate shooting incident which happened along Black Rock while bands were making merry. Bands also reported being invaded by armed men who terrorised band members in Station Hill. There were also reports of non-paying revellers raiding bands of the liquor at will.

While many have said it is a shorter route, for the most part, masqueraders will be parading on wider roads. Leaving from Bridgetown also means bands will reach the Black Rock area during daylight as opposed to later in the day when it gets darker.

But Station Hill, Bank Hall or Black Rock are not the only areas that have posed challenges for the police on Kadooment Day.

In 2017, a deadly shooting happened on what was then Spring Garden Highway (now the Mighty Grynner Highway). One man died and 18 other people received gunshot injuries. Some seem intent of marring the merriment and engaging in violence with no regard for the lives of others.

The reality is that every and all systems can be put in place, yet an unfortunate or deadly incident may occur. It is up to those who come out to play or watch mas’ to ensure that they make it an incident-free festival and Kadooment Day.

This is the 50th year of a festival with origins dating back to slavery. Early Crop Over was a time of celebration for an oppressed people. It was a liberating time for Black plantation workers who had few joyous occasions and little to be happy about. Let us, who now live on the freedoms which their struggles have provided, not take this meaningful festival for granted.

As we enjoy it, let us do so in a safe environment so that we can preserve its longevity for another 50 years.