On Monday 2nd of August 2021, it is predicable that many people in Barbados will be wearing masks, but it is a fact that no one will be playing mas as per normal on Grand Kadooment Day. Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley revealed the sobering news that there will be no mas events for the 2021 Crop Over Festival.
Within the past few weeks, a Cohobblopot seem to have been heating up and scores of people became hungry for news on the status Crop Over 2021. There is no doubt that the Crop Over Festival which is now in its 47th year has evolved into a national event. The festival is an economic watershed, boosting of the turning over of millions of dollars annually in diverse sectors both locally and internationally.
It is therefore no surprise that the powers that be will not sit by and allow COVID-19 to totally paralyze the spirit and practice of the Crop Over Festival.
The tempo of Barbados changes in the month of July, summer starts and with it comes a cultural storm. Crop Over is the eye of that storm. This year it appeared that the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) is dragging its feet or not being in tuned with ethos of the people.
In 2020 COVID -19 floored everything in Barbados. It robbed the island of Crop Over. In 2021 there is still respect for the seriousness of the pandemic but there is a resilient and a resolve not surrender what is an integral part of Barbados’ nationhood. Surrendering Crop Over 2020 was the right thing to do back then. In 2021 the right thing to do is not to let go the national festival but to give it a different treatment so that it can survive this period of distress.
Entertainment promoters, tent managers, bandleaders, masqueraders, calypsonians, businesspersons, and fete goers got a little haywire over lack of communication from government. Persons involved in the various sectors of the festival needed definitive answers to questions they were asking.
A recent meeting with government and most of the major stakeholders in the festival appeared to have settled several issues and paved a way towards festive activities which can be done within the limitations of the country’s COVID-19 protocols.