Patrons annoyed over refunds
BASSETERRE St. Kitts – THE grounds of the Sugar Mill at Warner Park Cricket Stadium last evening (Dec. 23) quickly became a pool caused by heavy and persistent rain, which forced the postponement of the International Night for this year’s Carnival celebrations.
Earlier in the day at a press conference held at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort, Chairman of the Carnival Committee Sylvester Anthony assured not only the artistes seated at the head table, but also local media representatives that they would have no rain last evening.
This assurance came after one of the international artistes made mention of the constant rainfall and their expectation of the night of their performance.
Although the show received a low turnout of patrons, the event which kicked off to a late start began with Infamus, who kept his listeners entertained during the heavy rainfall.
Patrons were seen standing with open umbrellas in the rain as the local artiste performed some of his famous hits that had made him popular.
After concluding his performance, a DJ took centre stage and played a number of local and regional hits before the announcement of the second act.
However, while entertaining the small crowd, the rainfall began to increase in magnitude which not only affected the patrons on the ground, but also those who were sitting in the stands with umbrellas, as well as preventing the second act to go onstage.
Scattered showers accompanied by heavy winds sent the attendees sitting in the stands further up to higher seats, but they were later forced to move to another part of building in order to avoid getting wet.
Apart from the discomfort of the attendees, there was also the risk factor of the speakers, instruments and other electronic devices onstage getting damaged by water but they were later removed.
Another risk factor was a bunch of insulated wires on the ground, completely covered by water which connected the sound control booth to the stage.
After the rains continued, unconfirmed information circulated that the International Night was going to be postponed to a later date, but no one from the Carnival Committee confirmed this.
Soon after the stage was cleared of all electrical equipment, patrons made their way out of the Stadium to enquire if there would be a refund of their money. They however met a group of angry persons gathered outside the ticket booth.
One patron said to SKNVibes Entertainment, “Dem nuh come pan stage and tell awe nothing bout wa gon happen or even if is a next show or wa; and now when we come out here for we refund they locked the window on we.”
Another angry ticket holder explained that when he arrived at the ticket booth, the persons inside told them that they were not given permission to refund money.
The ticket holder also explained that a woman had locked the window of the booth from the inside and made a request for police presence.
“We don’t want rob them or anything like that, all we wanted to know is if we will be getting back a refund of our money because they told us nothing onstage. So are we to assume that just like how they lose money we too can’t get back our $100?” the ticket holder added.
Meanwhile, a post on the St. Kitts and Nevis National Carnival Facebook page states: “Due to the weather conditions, following Infamus’ stellar performance, it was not possible to continue the International Night Concert.”
The post further states, “We deeply regret this as we were looking forward to a spectacular night. We will provide you with more information as it comes to hand. Thank you for your consideration.”
There is still the question as to if the previously slated artiste will be performing at the unconfirmed upcoming event or will they be a new lineup for a possibly free show?
Editor-in-Chief's Note: Chairman of the National Carnival Committee Sylvester Anthony announced on Freedom FM that all those who bought tickets for the International Night Show would be refunded. He however stated that those who were in attendance must produce their stubs at the National Carnival Secretariat on Victoria Road, Basseterre on Friday (Dec. 27) in order to receive their refund. Also, those who bought tickets but did not attend must produce their tickets before they could be refunded.
