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50 years of crop over. Hit or miss?

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Submitted by Observing
Carolann Roberts (l) Jasmine Babb (c) Shontal Monroe-Knight (r)

2024 represented 50 years of Crop Over. In some circles it was heralded as a tremendous milestone to be proud of and celebrate. For “us” Crop Over babies we were definitely looking forward to a rocking good time.

What has happened since then leaves much to be desired. This thread isn’t aimed at blaming any one or criticizing randomly, but, having been to every crop over event at one point or the other over the years, it is clear to me that the planning, organization, logisitics, production and “exciting feel” of this year’s season left a lot to be desired (with Pandemonium being the notable exception and a great show).
. 
Now, I may be wrong and it may be just be me. But conversations with vendors, shop owners and tourists reveal a lackluster festival at best. Some commentators said the same in the daily newspapers recently. Take Bridgetown Market for instance. What was a standard huge family event was an absolute graveyard compared to past years. Then the Pic O De Crop Finals. Yes we will have hiccups but this one had a moboton. Hopefully the rumour about the President’s placement is false. Foreday Morning is slowly meeting its demise at the hands of the private jumps. We still have some time to see how Soca 5.0 and the final Jump goes tomorrow (this was written Sunday evening)

Private promoters (all 100+ of them) must be commended for staging some good events with a few “misses.” But, everyone will not have $150-$300 to fork out 3 – 4 times for the season. As for the Kadooment costumes, they are clearly priced for a market that is well beyond the average pocket. As David mentioned in a thread sometime back, this is we culture, revelry can’t done. 

Questions that we can ask now or after the dust has settled.

  1. Was our 50 years of Crop Over a hit or a miss?
  2. Do we really about national culture outside of fete after fete after fete after fete?
  3. Should Crop Over just be left to the private promoters?
  4. Did we put all our “eggs” in the T20 World Cup basket with nothing left for the season?
  5. Are there challenges in “culture management” generally that we should be aware of?

Whatever it is, for me personally, something was “off” this year. And for a festival that is now a half century old, that should give someone somewhere pause for thought. If they care. 

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70 responses to “50 years of crop over. Hit or miss?”

  1. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    The Queen of Barbados ?

  2. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    The value of Rihanna to the economy of Barbados Crop over 2024……

  3. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Big hit.

  4. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Wunna see PM MIA jumping ? @4.40 into the video above.

    She looking full of joy and energy.

  5. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Crop Over is no different to what passes for democracy.

    Today, Democrats in the USA, even those who were on the streets pretending to be pro-palestinian are willing to jump in the congoline and dance to the tune of Kamala Harris and her “selection” Tim Walz, a staunch Zionists who still supports arming the Zionists for genocide while pretending to support an anachronistic two-state solution.

    No demands are made! Instead, these socalled progressives, like children, recoil to their woke-ist despositions which permit these bullers to best take afvantage of their political nakedness.

    A carnaval in which the queen needs not be elected by a broad party base. And now this Tim Walz, an affirmative action hire in reverse, present the same old political wine in new bottles to make it appear as if these Democrats are a real alternative to the Trump/Vance fascistic tendencies.

    What are the differences between these two public displays of near nakedness or nakedness?

  6. David Avatar
    David

    It appears from the report Crop Over 2024 was a success.

    Crop Over 2024 ‘a success’

    by TRE GREAVES

    tregreaves@nationnews. com

    ALTHOUGH THERE WERE challenges with Flow Grand Kadooment,

    the National Cultural Foundation (NCF), police and some bandleaders are thrilled with the outcome of Monday’s official Crop Over climax, especially the new route.

    “The comments have generally been very congratulatory about the new route. The selection of this route was a recommendation of the Barbados Association of Masqueraders, so kudos to Jason Thompson and his team for putting in the advanced work,” NCF chief executive officer Carol Roberts told the MIDWEEK NATION.

    The parade began from the Helipad in Bridgetown and proceeded along Princess Alice Highway, Prescod Boulevard, President Kennedy Drive, Eagle Hall, Black Rock Main Road to the Frank Worrell Roundabout and down the Might Grynner Highway to end off outside Kensington Oval

    Satisfaction

    “We made two tweaks and I am pleased with the comments. There is always reason to go back and look but today we can look around with a sense of satisfaction that we pulled off what we said we wanted to,” Roberts said.

    “I know there will be some future discussions about the interactions between the spectators and the revellers and we will go back and look at it. However, it was a joy to see revellers on the road and doing so peacefully for the most part.”

    She thanked the Barbados Police Service, Barbados Defence Force, other members of the protective services and the Department of Emergency Management (DEM) as well as masqueraders and patrons who helped to ensure there were no major violent incidents.

    “The DEM and the protective services were in their numbers. I have to applaud them because these are the same people who got us through World Cup safely without incident and they brought us through Crop Over without incident,” the CEO said.

    Commissioner of Police, Richard Boyce said there were no reports of major incidents throughout the festival, and thanked the public for helping to maintain a peaceful atmosphere. “We as a country, on the whole, should congratulate ourselves in hosting such an event bearing in mind that we had a number of visitors who came in to attend the festival,” he said, adding that this year was by far better than the jump-up in 2023 when there was a major shooting incident.

    Roberts said the presence of Barbados’ National Hero and global superstar, The Right Excellent Robyn Rihanna Fenty, who jumped with Aura Experience, was a plus for the festival.

    Local music

    She added that from her vantage points, more new local music was played on the road, which could be a catalyst to the future successes of Barbadian artistes.

    “It means that the work and the monetary investment poured into the music of the artistes are helping them with their production. Carrying them overseas to perform on other stages is encouraging them to up the ante and it has begun to pay off,” she said.

    Overall, Roberts said Crop Over 2024 was a success.

    “It was largely violence-free, there was a good mix of fêtes and parties and heritage events. And it’s a bumper pay for creatives, and not just soca artistes, but the designers, seamstresses, the hospitality industry all benefited,” she said.

    While noting that everything was not perfect, she said they will be heading back to work with stakeholders to make the festival even better.

    “At the NCF, we are open to praise as equally as we are open to criticism. I’ve never shied away from criticism because I feel it is as valuable as praise. Praise may lead to you resting on your laurels, while criticism tends to keep you on your toes.

    “As we always do, the Foundation is going to engage with stakeholders and try to make it the best festival for Barbadians and visitors.

    “There are elements that need assessment urgently, including supply and demand, human resources and time planning of all elements of the festival.

    “However, while I do note the criticism, I also staunchly defend the parts the Foundation and the stakeholders got right,” Roberts said.

    Yesterday the NCF released the results from the judging of the parade, and Kevin Small’s Fifth Element Mas won several prizes, including the Robert Weekes Award as Best Festival Designer.

    Betty West Productions’ winnings included the George Dear Award for Best Band On The Road

    and Large Band of the Year (Heritage) for its theme Celebrating We Holidays.

    Vida by Esquire also received some of the top prizes, such as Large Band Of The Year (Party) and Best Presentation (Party). When contacted yesterday, West said although the band had a hard start, she was pleased she persevered.

    “ Kadooment for me was a challenge. There was a lack of sponsorship, people weren’t coming in the band and I’m not sure if that was due to finances, so in the end I had to slash some of the prices,” she said.

    “However, I knew I had an excellent and a winning band. It was such perfect day for us. It was peaceful and I am so happy,” she declared.

    Small said that while his masqueraders also had a hard start, they finished on a high.

    “The Best Festival Designer and small band titles are titles that we have won over our ten-year run but I am grateful for them.

    “It was challenging at the beginning but it levelled itself out and the masqueraders had a great time,” he said.

    Source: Nation

  7. David Avatar
    David

    Former Culture minister has some concerns.

    Lashley: NCF dropped the ball at events

    by MARIA BRADSHAW

    mariabradshaw@nationnews.com

    A FORMER MINISTER OF CULTURE has accused the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) of dropping the ball during some of the major events at this year’s Crop Over Festival.

    Stephen Lashley, who was minister in 2010 under the Democratic Labour Party administration, said he believed the situation warranted a “surgical review” by the NCF as, according to him, the planning that went into some of the events was not the “normal standard”.

    “My observations had to do mainly with the execution of events. And my concern was that it seemed as though that in several respects, the NCF had dropped the ball,” he told the MIDWEEK NATION yesterday.

    He made reference to the night of the Pic O De Crop Finals at the National Botanical Gardens in Waterford, St Michael, where there were glitches.

    “The Finals started, I think, about an hour and something late. There seemed to have been technical issues and the show was interrupted – Kid Site was interrupted. I mean, you will have delays, but my concern is more about the planning and logistics.

    “Then, there were the issues relating to the Junior Monarch that had to be rescheduled and stuff like that. Whereas in the past, we actually would have had two venues set up, FORMER MINISTER OF CULTURE

    Stephen Lashley. (FP)

    which is the Gymnasium and also the event where it was going to be held. My understanding was that the Gymnasium was not booked, so that’s why they had to actually reschedule it completely,” said an unimpressed Lashley.

    He also mentioned the postponement of Soca 5.0 from Sunday to last night and the late start of the parade of the bands in FLOW Grand Kadooment on Monday.

    “I think it was a letdown in terms of the 50th anniversary. Fifty is supposed to be a significant happening; it shows that you have come of age. These issues that you have had, to me, are not issues that you could have an excuse for because these required planning. If you don’t plan effectively it means that this is what happens. This is the festival that injects quite a bit of money into the economy; generates a lot of people’s livelihood. So you can’t afford not to get it right.”

    Lashley also expressed concern about the utilisation of the Botanical Gardens for events.

    “I think one of the things they have to do is to relook the use of the Botanical Gardens as well, because the question that I would ask is, what does it cost the Government to stage these events at the Botanical Gardens? And due to the fact that you have, let’s say, Kensington Oval, which already has infrastructure. At Botanical Gardens you have to create new infrastructure.

    “To me, I think they still have not gotten it right yet in terms of using that facility. It will be more costly to me unless somebody should show me differently. The cost of using Botanical Gardens must be more than if you had to go and use

    Kensington Oval because you have to set up a massive undertaking in terms of stage and also stands and a whole set of stuff.”

    He added: “I heard people complaining too that they even had to wait significant hours to get into the facility. So I would say the planning was not up to par. It was not up to the normal standard you would expect from the NCF, and that’s what surprised me. Because when I was minister, for example, we had events starting . . . on time. We had lots of intensive planning so that you remove the possibility of errors and issues coming up.

    “You would never have a competition where you had to stop the show as a contestant was on the stage and then bring that person back because of technical issues. You would never have that.”

    Lashley, an attorney, said the standard of excellence had to be maintained.

    “In that regard, you really have to do some surgical review to ensure that these things don’t recur, because you’re talking about an international brand . . . . There must be an explanation as to why these things occurred but, more importantly, that you ensure you can deal with these issues effectively through proper planning and logistics . . . .

    “Hopefully next year, we don’t repeat these issues.”

    Source: Nation

  8. David Avatar
    David

    From the blogmaster’s perspective having spoken to several actors who participated in the festival, we have some work to do to plug gaps threatening to compromise the festival. It is important for decision makers to get over the PR fluff and deal with constructive feedback about the lacklustre nature of the 2024 crop over festival. Success cannot be measured solely in the number of fetes held and “people participation”.

  9. Observing Avatar
    Observing

    @David

    “It is important for decision makers to get over the PR fluff and deal with constructive feedback”

    That’s a TALL order!!!!!!

    Just observing

  10. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    “…..what does it cost the Government to stage these events at the Botanical Gardens? And due to the fact that you have, let’s say, Kensington Oval, which already has infrastructure. At Botanical Gardens you have to create new infrastructure.”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Former minister Lashley playing that he don’t know that this is done so that large UNAUDITED sums of money can be paid to various persons and entities without the usual (already poor) scrutiny of the system that the Auditor General oversees.

    It ALSO explains the requirement that family, friends and lackies be placed in position on these Boards and ‘Foundations’ to facilitate these shenanigans.

    At Kensington (New facilities, just upgraded, clean and DESIGNED for large crowds) who the Hell would get to collect (borrowed) taxpayers monies for rentals, construction of TEMPORARY facilities, security, chemical shit houses, tents, chairs etc?

    Is politics not the art of taking taxpayers money and using it to influence mendicant brass bowls to be inclined towards your generosity?

    Steupsss..
    Lashley probably would be more familiar with people taking CLICO money to be used in that manner…. and then paying back with the easy public funds….

    What a place!!!

  11. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    According to BU experts Kensington is not a customer and performer friendly location.

  12. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    According to BU experts Kensington is not a customer and performer friendly location.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    …and Waterford Bottom is…?
    LOL ha ha ha
    Murda!!
    Your ‘BU experts’ sound like typical political lackies yuh…

  13. David Avatar
    David

    It is good the head takes responsibility, now let us work harder to make our national festival better.

    BUCK STOPS WITH ME

    NCF boss responds to criticisms over

    Crop Over slip-ups

    By Natanga Smith natangasmith@nationnews.com

    “Iwill take the blame.” That is the position of Carol Roberts, chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Cultural Foundation (NCF), in response to criticisms over a number of challenges and hiccups experienced during the festival.

    In a wide-ranging interview at the NCF’s offices in West Terrace, St James, on Friday, she said now that Crop Over 2024 had concluded, there was work to be done and “key areas and disciplines in the sector that we need to begin immediately looking at”.

    Roberts said calling for her head would not solve the issues faced during the staging of the 50th anniversary of the Sweetest Summer Festival.

    “That’s just emotional and solves nothing. I accept, as the NCF and its leader, full responsibility and vehemently apologise to the public. Work needs to be done here at my end, work needs to be done across the sector, work needs to be done among the stakeholders. And work needs to be done with some of the parallel agencies and partnering agencies as well,” she told the Sunday Sun.

    The NCF boss said she had heard the criticisms about “not feeling the vibe of the 50th”.

    Last week, former minister of culture Stephen Lashley scolded the NCF, stating it had dropped the ball on some of the events this Crop Over season, among them technical challenges at the Pic O De Crop Finals and the shifting of the Junior Monarch Finals to the Wildey Gymnasium.

    Disappointed

    “I understand why some people are genuinely disappointed and why they expected more, but I also say that some people need to pay a little bit more attention to the full run-down of the calendar and look at it event by event,” she said, adding that planning started from December.

    “We wanted to do a couple of things for the 50th. One, infuse the festival with more nostalgic heritage components. Two, remind Bajans at home and abroad and just people interested in Caribbean cultures of both the foundation and also the development of the festival over 50 years.

    We attempted to do that in a variety of ways, such as bringing back components of the festival, intangible heritage components, like the Decorated Cart Parade and the fancy dress parade at the Ceremonial Delivery Of The Last Canes.

    The CEO said she had a small team to work on all the events under the NCF’s mandate.

    “We didn’t get to do everything that we wanted to do, but it’s a year. So we wanted to bring back the Kings and Queens Of The Bands. We didn’t get to do that. So we’ve put that high up on our agenda for next year. There were a number of other things but coming out of Cricket World Cup (in June), time was pretty constrained. That is not an excuse and I’m not here to make excuses.

    “But again, the 50th anniversary is a year-long thing. It will go from one Crop Over to the next. We achieved some this year and we will continue to push forward to get some of the others done . . . . I’m still comfortable that we were able to do some meaningful things.”

    Roberts said meetings with different stakeholders will now have to be held, one as early as tomorrow, with the Barbados Association of Retailers, Vendors and Entrepreneurs (BARVEN) over Bridgetown Market.

    “We need to look at exactly what went wrong and accept responsibility because this will be the second year in a row that we’ve not been able to honour our commitment to BARVEN. I’m not beating around the bush with that.

    “From the end of last year’s festival, we knew from the Ministry of Health that some areas along the Mighty Grynner Highway would be condemned as there were areas that flooded. So we decided to do Bridgetown Market a bit different, but vendors insisted they wanted to go on the Mighty Grynner Highway. Well, the rain fell last week, so vendors were complaining because people got flooded out. And there were other issues at Bridgetown Market for which we have to accept liability because we are the purchasers.”

    Roberts said the staging of other events went well while others had some hiccups.

    Technical problems

    The Pic O De Crop Finals started almost an hour late due to “technical difficulties” which also saw second performer Kid Site having to stop midway through his song.

    “The staging of the Pic O De Crop Finals [at the National Botanical Gardens] was not the NCF’s best showing. That was less than our usual standard. In the last couple of days, obviously we’ve been trying to mop up and we haven’t really sat down and begun to look critically at what some of those issues were. But I know there were electrical issues which would have affected everything. So, I don’t really want to say too much on that and speak out of turn, because I want to be absolutely accurate,” Roberts said.

    “But technical issues aside, it was not our best showing, and two things you can’t do – you can’t defend the indefensible and you also can’t pull the blanket over your head and go to sleep; you got to face it front on. It was not our best showing as the producer of this event.”

    She said the postponement of Soca 5.0 last Sunday to Tuesday due to adverse weather conditions was out of her hands.

    “It was not easy, but we don’t seem to like to have uncomfortable conversations or to make tough decisions. That’s probably one of the toughest things I’ve had to do in my 60 years. But you don’t argue with the Chief Medical Officer, you don’t argue with the Director of the Met Services, you don’t argue with the head of the protective services, either Police Service or BDF [Barbados Defence Force].

    “My intention was just to get people home safely. We also had over 200 stage crew there who then spent the next couple of hours picking down their equipment . . . worth a couple million dollars. Those security people who had to stay there until the place was entirely cleared and then some had to stay overnight, because you want to keep the place secure,” she said, adding the Met Office said Tuesday would be the least rain-affected day.

    “Everyone was on board, all the artistes, service providers and I spoke with Machel [Montano of the Monk Band] who said, ‘Yep, I’ll wait. This is important to Barbados. This is the 50th’. I think it came back bigger and better.”

    She said she was happy that Foreday Morning and Grand Kadooment ended incident-free.

    “We haven’t had an incident of violence for

    Foreday Morning now for couple of years. Last year there were issues with lighting and our supply and demand problem, which we went out of our way to resolve this year. [We] did not get it totally resolved, but got it resolved quite well, to a point.

    Collective decision

    “For Grand Kadooment the pushback time was two hours and that was a collective decision. We would have had discussions in the morning, did a couple of conference calls, consulted the Met services and then there was consensus that we start at 11.

    “But even with the 11 o’clock start, some bands still were not ready. If you’re not ready for an 11 o’clock start, you’re gonna butt up on some issues on the road. What I’m taking from Grand Kadooment is that the route works generally, and we were able to get down without incident. I heard that some bands were pulled off the road. As we meet with the stakeholders, we will find out what happened.”

    Giving an assessment of the festival, Roberts said: “I will just say that there were pockets of success and there are aspects which the NCF has taken full responsibility for and apologising.”

    Source: Nation

  14. David Avatar
    David

    Crop Over anniversary beginnings

    The National Cultural Foundation (NCF) and the Ministry of Culture are being criticised for holding what in any other year might have been considered an above average Crop Over. Large numbers, good vibes, no significant controversy, wtih the usual technical and logistical issues which we’ve never been able to fix. Relative to other Crop Overs, this was not a bad one at all.

    However, as the 50th anniversary, this one is being held to a different standard. Barbados on a whole is.

    The expectations of Bajans have outpaced Barbados’ growth. The ambitions of Government have seemingly grown as well with this administration.

    On the other hand, patience, understanding, and the willingness to accept the excrement of bulls have seemingly declined. In an age of instant, on-demand gratification, many will not understand the necessarily slow, gradual, uncertain process of national, cultural, social and, therefore also, economic development.

    Barbados is like the Grand Kadooment route. It was one way for a long time. Not necessarily because it was the best way. It was the accustomed way. And, as long as externals remained relatively stable, there was not much of a problem.

    Even so, Bajans who did have a problem might have been less inclined to complain.

    We used to be able to keep things the same without too-too much controversy. Not anymore. Barbados today is like the Party Monarch down East Coast. A good show on not so solid terrain. An event with great potential but a potentially disastrous long-term outlook. Prime real estate occupied by happy-go-lucky locals, while “developers” who are not part of the feting family look on with envy in their eyes and mouths awash in saliva.

    Cultural penetration

    The instability of the world around us is showing up the weaknesses in our social, cultural and economic structures. The depth of cultural penetration in a digital age is showing up the shallowness of Barbados’ cultural foundation. The people who are criticising the 50th anniversary seem to yearn for events or symbols to express a feeling of national pride and industry.

    But, to believe that an organised event or staged set of symbols will magically create national significance is a mistake. To be fair, the Government has also made this mistake and perpetuated the misconception with its handling of some other major moments in our history. This is a difficult balancing act across a very long highwire.

    National significance

    This was the task: to make the 50th anniversary of Crop Over a popular, fun festival for locals and visitors alike, with a variety of cultural arts on display, full of meaning and national significance, with symbols of nationhood and identity in high profile, bringing in foreign exchange while at the same time stimulating small and large local business activity and impregnate the country with national pride.

    If that is not enough, this is in the face of decades of easing up the volume on feting and easing out the presence of traditional heritage and culture. Some people would want to articulate the task more simply but this is what it really was. Some people only care about partying.

    Some only care about making money. Some still want to see heritage on display.

    The cultural authorities have responsibility for all. All-in-all I thought it was a good job. This Crop Over was not a huge, onetime- boom-celebration of the last 50 years. Hopefully, it was the initial bruggadung of a longterm, inter-generational project of building a culture which is truly more that a carnival.

    We will see.

    Adrian Green is a communications specialist.

    Source: Nation

  15. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    We are certainly in need of a new direction in several areas : sports, culture, tourism, agriculture, education, health care, housing, public transportation, garbage collection, vending, water supply, road maintenance , …………………
    Doing the same thing and expecting different results .
    As Sir Erskine Sandiford once said : We want things to change but we want everything to still remain the same.
    We are fooling no one with the warm over soup, pseudo intellectualism and plain bull shit.

  16. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    copy and paste

    “Continuous Improvement
    Plan: Identify an opportunity and plan for change.
    Do: Implement the change on a small scale.
    Check: Use data to analyze the results of the change and determine whether it made a difference.
    Act: If the change was successful, implement it on a wider scale and continuously assess your results.”

  17. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    lee almitee

  18. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    skandals! doan worry be happy.

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2024/08/13/as-sandals-lays-off-hundreds-bhta-says-no-need-for-alarm/

  19. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Crop over 2025.

    https://nationnews.com/2025/07/06/sweet-vibes-get-festival-under-way/

  20. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    ncf

    https://nationnews.com/2025/07/11/de-announcer-seeking-legal-advice/

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