Low turn-out at Portmore Carnival

Spectators join the revellers along the trail. - Winston Sill

THE LONG-AWAITED problem-plagued Portmore carnival kicked off yesterday. As the 12:30 start-up time drew closer, it was doubtful whether there would be a carnival. It began as a carnival of hundreds ­ 100 spectators, 102 police officers and approximately 400 revellers at the McDonald's Car Park in Braeton, St. Catherine.

The carnival started on time and for the most part was uneventful. Few curious onlookers lined the streets to view the colourful scene. The revellers, mirroring the mood of the carnival, were lukewarm in their dancing and the gyrations were without form. They seemed eager to see the end of the day.

The shift in momentum began, however, at approximately 2:16 p.m. There was a resurgence of energy among the revellers; the music picked up momentum and the crowd began to converge. The spirit of carnival was awakened. Men, women, children and even a parrot jumped and 'bump and grind' to the music of Black Prince Disco, Super T Disco and G-Force Disco.

Slated to be completed by 4:30 p.m., the Carnival met its deadline, but left the crowd hanging, expectant and unfulfilled as the march to Southborough Primary School ended abruptly. Locked gates greeted the crowd who, by then, were hyped and ready to enjoy the music. Reluctantly they dispersed.

Despite the locked gates and lukewarm beginning, and being 7,000 short of the 10,000 anticipated spectators, organiser Errol Wonder has defined the event as 'great, better than expected'. Though pleased with the turn-out he blames those absent on work. Inspector Lindsay of the Bridgeport Police Station confirms the 3,000 spectators. The crowd, he said, was disciplined and the entire event was almost incident-free ­ an alleged ganja-bearing badword-cursing man was whisked away. Inspector Lindsay was pleased with the crowd control. There was no need for more than half of the police officers deployed, he said.

Errol Wonder laments the lack of corporate sponsorship and hopes next year the event may be able to attract more sponsors.

June Charlton, a member of the crowd, felt the carnival lacked lustre and was sometimes boring. She will not return next year. First-time revellers Nadine Lewis and Keisha Vernon, however, enjoyed the arrival 'a lot', have no regrets and promise to be back next year.

Mr Wonder looks forward to next year and insists the preparations have begun already.

Back to Entertainment