Barbados Grand Kadooment: Cultural Spectacle Marks 50th Crop Over Anniversary

Revellers are set to hit the streets Monday morning for the Barbados’ largest spectacle.

Flow Grand Kadooment is expected to be an exhilarating and epic cultural display putting the icing on the cake of two months of festivities that marked the Crop Over festival’s 50th anniversary.

At 9 a.m., 18 bands will assemble in the Helipad Car Park in Bridgetown to transform the streets of St Michael into a sea of vibrant colour, as pretty mas’ and old mas’ are displayed by veteran bandleaders and newcomers, heritage bands and contemporary offerings alike.

Masqueraders will leave the assembly point and proceed onto the Princess Alice Highway, then onto President Kennedy Drive via Prescod Boulevard.

The parade makes the left at Eagle Hall Junction (at the traffic lights) to head onto Black Rock Main Road before making a left at the Frank Worrell Roundabout (at the bottom of Cave Hill) culminating on the Mighty Grynner Highway where bands will end the day at Kensington Oval.

Spectators can line the streets from Princess Alice Highway to the Mighty Grynner Highway where they will be treated to special performances between the registered bands including percussion groups, cultural characters, entertainment zones along the route and a magnificent 50th Anniversary Crop Over tribute that promises to be a thrill.

The costume judging point for bands Opposite Micro Garment Factory, BIDC Building No. 8. on Harbour Road. The NCF music truck will be home again to a number of top Bajan artistes slated to be on the road.

Along with tourists who are on island to play mas and watch the spectacle, there are a number of international journalists in Barbados to capture the historic 50th anniversary of Kadooment.

Producers of the Festival, the National Cultural Foundation continues to implore the viewing public who support, observe and enjoy the spectacle, colour and creativity to do so safely from the sidelines and “party in peace”.

Revellers, as well as consumers lining the streets, are being reminded by NCF chief executive officer Carol Roberts to show their support by partying in peace.

Speaking at the official media launch of Flow Grand Kadooment she thanked all stakeholders for their support over the past five decades.

“I encourage us all as a people to respect and endorse the efforts of the bandleaders and their teams; it’s not easy and it does not start two weeks before Grand Kadooment, it starts the year before, and their task is a very difficult one in this climate as almost every destination that we know of now has some form of carnival”.