Dear Editor WeblogBahamas,
I note a headline in one of the dailies Saturday and I quote; “Remove Junkanoo from carnival” this coming from Dario Tirelli, President of the Bahamas Carnival Band Owners Association. I agree with his sentiment except, of course, he has it backwards, what we urgently need is carnival removed from Junkanoo. Mr. Tirelli in case you have lived in cave all your life, Junkanoo is the Bahamas’ cultural festival , carnival is from an alien culture found in Trinidad and Latin and South America.
Tirelli goes on to state that this double naming is confusing the international market. Tirelli you are quite correct, but you erroneously think that the tourist will come to a Bahamas carnival; sir, you are so wrong, just check with USA Today, who did a survey of their readers to find out where they would prefer to go; Trinidad for carnival or the Bahamas for Junkanoo, sorry Mr. Tirelli but a majority said Junkanoo in the Bahamas. Mr. Tirelli it’s YOU who is confusing the issue, our tourists don’t know where the h*ll to go because YOU are the problem. Any advertising executive will tell you selling a product be it a shirt, a car or a vacation is all about branding and marketing, the Bahamas markets Junkanoo not carnival, therefore do not confuse the market by introducing a brand from elsewhere.
Please don’t misunderstand me I’m all for a good party and we can continue partying by calling our expanded cultural event “Junkanoo Festival” just lose that confusing, tacky word carnival; and to all those “young” carnival fans out there who have threatened. “I ain’t gan unless it’s called carnival” I say fine, cut off your own nose to spite your face; because there is a good possibility that our faithful tourists will continue to visit our shores and help us to party long and hard.
Mr. Christie, the Junkanoo Festival was your idea and yet you have been strangely quiet while all this wrangling has been going on, please let us know your thoughts and feelings.
Harry Owens
