A long season – Cricket, Carnival and Weather

Vincentians, and indeed the people of the Caribbean face what would seem to be a longer-than-usual second half of the year. It has already begun, one month early with the ushering in of a busy entertainment period, starting with World Cup cricket, and extending the entertainment to a busy Carnival season starting with St. Vincent and the Grenadines and covering St Lucia, Antigua, Barbados and on to Grenada.

Here in SVG, the next week will not only usher in international entertainment in our hosting of our first-ever World Cup cricket but will provide a stern test of how well equipped we are to handle the challenges of meeting global standards in the provision of facilities, entertainment and administering international events. A major test will be our hosting of several matches in the ICC Men’s T/20 World Cup cricket at our upgraded Arnos Vale facilities.

It will be an exacting challenge to our home-grown talent who have been entrusted with the huge responsibility of providing facilities to meet rigorous global standards.

Special praise among all the noteworthy local contributors must be heaped on two local female engineers who have been critical to the refurbished and upgraded Arnos Vale facilities. Historically, one would not have associated women with such technical capacity in engineering but the two, Mrs Deidre Millington-Myers and Ms. Narissa Fergus have demonstrated what women can do, when given the opportunity. Hats off to them!

Our Vincy Carnival was quick to piggyback on the cricketing train by launching its 2024 package to coincide with the local leg of the tour of the World Cup trophy. Its slogan “Runs and Rhythms” was well-chosen and meshed in nicely with both sets of activities. It is a pity though that some elements have already begun corrupting the slogan into “Rum and Rhythms”, reflecting the sad growing emphasis on alcohol in the festival.

The season is already underway with rural Carnivals leading the charge, and the calypso tents have begun exposing their offerings to the public. The challenge is to continue providing entertainment without degenerating into unhealthy activities and it is to be hoped that Vincy carnival gains long-term from the wider exposure.

However, overshadowing all these positive opportunities will be the annual threat of the hurricane season.

Normally this lasts from June until November, but the year 2013 demonstrated to us that disaster can strike right up to the Christmas season. This year the threat is further amplified by the intensification of the effects of climate change, bringing with it the multiple threats of extended drought and damaging storms.

It is easy to be distracted by the entertainment packages, but we cannot afford to be careless given the experiences of recent years. We must always maintain vigilance and in fact, in view of the Carnival distraction, ensure that our preparations are made early and that we pay maximum attention to the weather bulletins and those of the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO). We can, and must, do both.