Members of the Ife Moke Jumbies tuk band performs at The Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) and the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) Launch, "Follow Me To Crop Over", at the Courtleigh Auditorium, New Kingston on Friday. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
'FOLLOW ME To Crop Over'. The call came on Friday and many joined with the Barbados Tourism Authority and the National Cultural Foundation for the first leg of the journey.
The annual Barbados Crop Over Festival was launched at the Courtleigh Auditorium, New Kingston last Friday evening. Filled with many blue and yellow balloons, the nation's colours and posters of the beautiful island, travel agents, and other guests soaked up the Crop Over enthusiasm.
The festival, from July 8 to August 7 promises to be an exciting event. Among the most popular events are Party Monarch Finals on July 30, Pic-O-De-Crop Finals on August 4, Fore Day Mornin' Jump-Up August 5, Barbados' version of J'ouvert and the Grand Kadooment on August 7.
Until the festival begins, there will be Cavalcades, musical shows to whip up excitement and get the crop over feel. Outside of these formal events the festival brings parties non-stop.
In speaking at the launch, Al Gilks, NCF Chairman says that this year's Crop Over will be, "a mixture of culture and entertainment like never seen before."
"Crop Over is carnival that it's more than a carnival," he said.
The Barbados Crop Over Festival dates back to slavery. It was a time of celebration at the end of the sugar harvest. Though the festival had stopped in the 1940s it was revived in 1974 and has been going strong since then.
