Easterval Committe Chairman hails 2012 event a success

The 2012 Easterval Committee is already hailing this year’s activity a major success.{{more}}

So says Abdon Whyte, the committee’s Chairman, who said that one major indication of the success of this year’s festival was that there were no major incidents of fighting or any other form of violence reported.

On behalf of the committee, we think it was a big success,” Whyte told SEARCHLIGHT, although admitting that there were a few areas that needed to be looked at.

One such area, according to the committee’s chairman, was the issue of the late start of shows and the need to fill the gaps in shows such as the Miss Easterval pageant.

He still however contended that the response has been positive so far.

“The response we are getting from the people is that they really enjoyed it,” Whyte continued.

He mentioned the success of the ‘Night Mas’ which took place on Monday evening at the main square in Clifton.

Whyte explained that a mammoth crowd, which was entertained by reigning Soca Monarch, Delroy ‘Fireman’ Hooper, descended on the square, even though there was no major excursion to the island last weekend.

This he further explained is a new addition to the Easterval activities which is already being billed as one of the major events.

The Miss Easterval pageant was also hailed a major success this year, more so with the inclusion of participants from Venezuela, Margarita and the British Virgin Islands, who Whyte said all made first time appearances at the event.

“They were the ones who actually contacted us because somebody had informed them that it was probably one of the biggest and best pageants in the country,” the committee chairman told SEARCHLIGHT.

He compared it to the Miss Carival competition saying that after this show, the Miss Easterval was perhaps the only other show in the region to attract foreign participation.

The festival has changed throughout the years, but a unique feature of the existing committee is that they have been able to merge the activities of the former years, which included sports meets with schools from neighbouring islands such as Carriacou, Petit Martinique and schools on Union Island, Whyte explained.

This was featured in the weekend leading up to the major activities, with the staging of an inter-school sports meet involving the two primary schools on the island and an invited school from nearby Carriacou.

For now, Whyte said that the committee is hoping to begin promoting next year’s event.

“Our goal is to now take the festival to another level,” Whyte told SEARCHLIGHT.

“In terms of the stage, the lighting, the sound system, we made sure we took good care of that so that the standards and quality of the shows would live on,” he continued.

A consultation is expected to be held next week, Whyte said, adding that one of the objectives would be to find persons who are serious and committed to join the group.(DD)