Inflation affects festival costs too — Walters
Chairman of the Virgin Islands Festival and Fairs Committee (VIFFC), Dirk Walters, said it is important that members of the public have a better understanding of the true cost of hosting the territory’s annual Emancipation Festival.
While speaking on the Talking Points show recently, Walters said the terms ‘cost’ and ‘money’ get thrown around a lot in discussions surrounding the event. However, persons may not have a real picture of what really goes on behind the scenes.
“Do you understand what you did even two years ago? You can imagine what it costs now, right? So just like supply chain issues and inflation affects your business and the government, in turn, it affects everything the Virgin Islands Festival and Fairs Committee does as well”, Walters said.
He added: “Fuel has gone up, supply chain issues, as I say, materials, building materials, the same… wood, it costs you more to build a house now, [and] it costs us more to build a trailer.”
Walters said it was important to bear such things in mind, particularly when it comes to hosting pageants and looking at the considerations that have to go with such events.
But Walters also hinted that some persons tend to artificially inflate the costs of their goods and services when it comes to events for the committee.
“When you wanna hold a pageant and someone wants to charge tens of thousands of dollars just for a stage — a raw stage with a couple other things — you could understand how this adds up,” Walters related.
The Festival Committee chair shared that the Coney Island entertainment component itself costs $300,000, even with some concessions already factored in.
The VIFFC was given roughly one million dollars to help to execute the Emancipation Festival, with contributions coming from the BVI Tourist Board and a government subvention.
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THE BVI IS THE ONLY PLACE IN THE VIRGIN ISLANDS CHARGING PEOPLE FOR THEIR CELEBRATION FROM SLAVERY
“it is important that members of the public have a better understanding of the true cost of hosting the territory’s annual Emancipation Festival.”
Well just do the proper accounting and then get it audited at the end of the period so that we may have a better understanding.
Perhaps BVIslanders are not expected to attend these functions because Mr Walters mentions “inflation”, and that affects all of us in a negative way, so how can we be expected to be able to afford to support these functions?
Thought Govt funds were to allow Citizen freedom to enjoy their celebration. When you have to pay that cannot be a freedom celebration..I do hope we get a gate entry and ticket sold financial report. Something a little off. Dirk being involved in Festival for so long and the same cry and complaints people are having are the same one Dirk use to having, Strange now he is in the seat nothing changing, he is not trying make a difference..
correction, the USVI is the only Caribbean country that doesn’t charge for their village festivities.
Who makes the money from the coney island,If the government spending $300,000, to get it here?
emancipated but slaves to the dollar
What happens to the proceeds collected from festival? Does it go towards festival next year or does the government take it back or does it just disappear and we need find fresh money again? I feel like every year is a scandal about what had happen to the festival money and auditing it and what not.
Can someone tell me what the big secret is in the price for food ay the booths in the festival ground? They’re posting menus,but no prices……
On another note… Them was looking to make noise about Byron Messiah coming here… How come nobody saying nothing about this obeah man wha advertising locally even leaving flyers on yuh vehicle advertising he obeah services. Where is the Christian council! He does advertise on this same website.
Mr Walters I does wonder about you mehson ,$40.00 and then you here talking bs
Their Village is a street Party, stage on a Popular Street and the biggest and best acts perform no fence, no fee. Everyone come and enjoy, That’s the way. That’ Freedom celebration. Anything that fence people in and charge a fee cannot be a call freedom Celebration..SK I will be there in December.
don’t know what they doing. It is a set of dead people runnimg the Festival Comittee. These backward people kill Music Fest, kill Horse Race and now they are killing Festival. However, Festival can be revived and energized, but it needs people who have the skills set to manage.
Where is the paper trail after festival?
I saw the line up and it seems our Fungie Bands and Steel Pans don’t have any part in our culture anymore. I mean we know that BVIslanders are outnumbered, but we are at in the BVI, right? So everybody else’s culture will be on stage and ours won’t? Poor BVI and its people.
Thank God for the donkey rides and culture shown in the Carrot Bay Community as the young people spoil this whole damn country for us. And now I hear the Festival Committee will get paid. I cannot stop laughing. If we even had the extra money, shouldn’t we be firing the Asphalt Plant with that or ordering the new incinerator? We in trouble.
Can you please stop running our Festival affairs like it is not something subsidized by Government? It is not a private music concert. You just had one of those that cost us $250,000. Can you try and do more with less? Why do you need all these, I don’t know what to call them, but expensive artists performing in one night? Could you mix one overseas with a couple of locals in one night?
This is not a music fest? What happened to our steel pan music and fungie bands? All I can say is that the young people care about nothing but themselves. I guess they invited who they want to hear and see. To hell with the rest of us.
No mixing, no BVI Culture. This is a Failure when put under the banner of BVI Festival.
Could not care less about the event, never go to it, never want to go to it. And really can’t see the point of it. All the quality businesses close for the period, most of the owners of the quality businesses leave for the festival period. What are we left with? A bunch of food vendors of questionable hygiene facilities likely to make you sick.
Hopefully folks will wake up and realize govt should not be in the entertainment business. Sewage in the pot hole riddled streets, no water, current comes and goes but plenty of money for entertaining the “emancipated” slavers to the current regime. Wake the fk up people.
I always like Dirky but you have disappointed many. How can you say the calypsonions don’t have any materials and there’s so many things to sing on. That’s lies from the pit of the hell. That was done by design.
Please try and find my concept in the then festivities and the nowCARNTIVAL.
Thelong ago Chief ministers and Premiers had Emancipation Celebrations on which they were able to boast, that’s not so anymore.
Where has our Culture gone?
On opening night the Premier said that he is going to pay the members of the Festival and Fairs Comittee for their hard work,as if it has only just now gotten so,but may i suggest that he would also have to pay Ishmael Scattliffe, and much more so Mso our CULTURAL ICON,Ms Eileene Parson a great sum of Money retroactively, for making it what it used to be for so long.
Who vex, vex,she is well deserving of it.
This shiet is sad really. Just man up and televise the event. When ppl see how unpopulated the village is they may have compassion and come out
We need transparency as the village is being funded by our tax dollars. What a waste not to televise the thing we already paid for it.
Reparation seems about right.