Too much rain for Carnival?

As SEARCHLIGHT went to press on Monday evening, it was raining cats and dogs in St Vincent and the Grenadines, with more heavy showers forecast for the rest of the week.

Most Vincentians welcome the showers, as they follow months of dry weather which took a toll on our agriculture, almost emptied our water catchments and affected the optimal functioning of our hydroelectricity plants.

But while we need the rain, it is posing a bit of an inconvenience for carnival lovers, Vincy Mas having begun last Friday, June 30.

The final 10 days of mas and music are now into day five. We have one week to go before the climax at Mardi Gras.

Already this season, the preliminaries of the Ragga Soca and Power Soca monarch competitions had to be postponed because of what one of our letter writers refers to as the inhospitable weather at this time of the year.

The postponement, cancellation or delay of events during Vincy Mas has not been unusual in the 46 years since our carnival festivities moved from the pre-Lenten season to the beginning of the hurricane season. But the extremes of weather seem to be getting worse; Climate Change they say.

Our letter writer has suggested that the time has come for us to consider a more weather friendly time of the year. Certainly, the June /July period is one of the more family friendly times of the year, which would weigh heavily in any consideration of a possible date change.

But the discussion should be had, along with all the other issues we ought to reflect on when an analysis is done on how to better our premier cultural festival.