No Carnival in 2020 Leaves Revellers Concerned

No carnival in 2020: There will be no carnival in 2020, as organizers forgo the annual road march and related activities until April 11, 2021. The road parade originally scheduled for Sunday, April 19 was first postponed to Sunday, October 25, due to the threat of the novel coronavirus. The decision was made after consultation with event organizers plus members of government and it is in keeping with current containment measures.

Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett says the government and organizers of carnival in Jamaica are mindful of the significant economic loss, which will result from the postponement of the annual carnival celebrations until April 11, 2021.  However, he says the government must continue to put strong measures in place to prevent unnecessary exposure of citizens and visitors to the deadly disease. 

Chairman of the Carnival in Jamaica Stakeholders Committee, Kamal Bankay says, rescheduling the road parade from October 25, 2020, to April 11, 2021, will allow the organizers time to ensure a safe and enjoyable event. However, a few persons on social media have suggested that the event be postponed until 2022. 

But Bankay says the organizers are going with their best guess right now.  He further notes  that all of the bands and fetes will honour all tickets and costumes purchased in 2020 for the 2021 staging. But many customers aren’t having it.  They argue that the event cannot be postponed to a date it would have been scheduled for under normal circumstances, adding that this is simply a tactic to avoid giving patrons a refund. 

The carnival bands have a no refund policy.  But one first time customer, Chrisna Bajoo,  believes this year should be an exception. In a statement, the bands asserted that when the government announced their first postponement in March, costume production was far advanced, despite many revellers still owing on costumes. This they say is still the case. According to them, they have continued to produce the costumes out of pocket in a year with little or no band revenue; therefore no refunds will be granted. Bajoo says production should have ceased given the crisis. She also adds that the customer service has been very poor. 

CVM LIVE’s Alladen Love has this story: