BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Sandy Point Black San Bang-A-Lang community festival, hosted by a young group that calls itself the Sandy Pointers Inspiring Real Improvement Throughout (SPIRIT) saw its official opening Friday night (Apr.15).
Although the event, held on the Sandy Point basketball court, did not begin until an hour and minutes after its scheduled time, many people turned out to witness the official opening which was spiced with entertainment by the Sandy Point Moko Jumbies.
Minister with responsibility for Culture, Hon. Marcella Liburd was present at the event and rendered brief remarks while expressing how pleased she was to see the rebirth of the traditional event.
She said SPIRIT is a group filled with positive young people and that the festival is highly important because lately there has been much negativity surrounding the youths of that area.
Minister Liburd commended the group for reviving and renaming the festival, as well as for adding so much creativity to it, noting it could be something that organisers of the other festivals could emulate.
She indicated that many of the festival activities involved the community and she thought that was excellent.
The elected representative of Sandy Point, Hon. Shawn Richards, declared how pleased he is to see the people coming out to support the SPIRIT group and the festival’s events.
“I support the work of SPIRIT and the support they have been receiving. It is people like SPIRIT that we need in our country and community,” he added.
Richards said it is his pleasure to support the work of the group, as it is a demonstration of what a community could do when they work together. He ended by wishing everyone a safe, pleasant and peaceful festival.
His remarks were followed by music from Mixklusiv International and the recently reunited LightzOut Band, which together warmed up the event as the patrons rolled in.
An exciting performance was rendered by the Sandy Point cultural bull, which attracted many curious individuals and also caused some females to run and hide.
A number of troupes were also launched for both the J’Ouvert and Parade Day events.
These included the Service Charge J’Ouvert troupe, the Children’s troupe - dubbed ‘A fit and healthy nation for kids’, the Samuri Warriors and Princess troupe (whose participants said that they would beat out crime), and the Capital History troupe that was presented by Banker’s Mas Camp and Shawn ‘Bucksy’ Crossley of Sandy Point.
The night’s event ended with a fireworks display that had all eyes focused skywards with amazement written on faces.
The festival continued on Saturday (Apr.16) with the TDC Family Affair Carnival at the Old Sandy Point Recreation Grounds, followed by the Carib King a De San Calypso Bacchanal held last night.
