CaribWorldNews, BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Mon. April 5, 2010: Several changes are on the cards for this year`s Barbados Crop-Over Festival, the Barbados government said late last week.

Among the changes is a longer route for Kadooment revelers and the rebranding of the Party Monarch and Sweet Soca Competition to `Soca Royale.` That event will now take place at Bushy Park, St. Philip.

The changes were revealed recently by Barbados Minister of Community Development and Culture, Steve Blackett, who was speaking at the Crop-Over 2010 sponsors` reception at the Wispers on the Bay complex. He explained that the Grand Kadooment route will now start at Warrens and proceed along Green Hill, eventually joining the traditional route to Spring Garden.

In addition, the Pic-o-De-Crop Semi Finals will return to the National Stadium, and the Junior Kadooment and Junior Monarch Competition will be merged into one event and also return to the stadium.

Blackett pointed out that the Pic-o-De-Crop Finals will be held at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown Market would commence a day earlier and a new feature of the Fore-day Morning Jam will be a sunrise beach party.

The festival, which has as its theme `Follow me to Crop-Over,` will kick off on Saturday, July 3, with a procession through the streets of Bridgetown and travel to Queen`s Park. The Culture Minister explained that at this year`s official start, government has sought to include persons of different ethnicities living here.

Blackett also disclosed that discussions among stakeholders on the proposed two-day street parade, which he mentioned at the recent Estimates debate, were ongoing.