IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times. The famous line by Charles Dickens can be applied to developments this week relating to TT.
As Trinidad reeled from horrific murders, Tobago staged its second carnival, a celebration which by many accounts was a success.
Tobago bar proprietors, promoters, supermarket owners and wholesalers reported a 500 per cent increase in earnings from last year. Businesspeople in the entertainment sector said there was a 500 per cent increase in revenue. There were no reports of serious criminal disruptions. All the hotels were close to full capacity.
Even the inter-island ferry operated without a significant backlog, moving 178,419 passengers and 5,405 vehicles. People did not have problems travelling on Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL), with extra flights programmed in.
Officials believe the event may have come in under its $12.5 million budget. The Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce said no one lost out. It was virtually a perfect score.
But a carnival - whether in Tobago or Trinidad - is not carnival without hiccups, and there were a few of those too.
Pan Trinbago president Beverly Ramsey-Moore accused the police of 'disrespect' after traffic was allowed to pass through the early portion of the organisation's event on Friday. There was a late start to J'Ouvert on Saturday. And there were mixed views on the relocation of festivities from Crown Point to Scarborough, Tobago's capital.
Excellent reviews are one thing (and there have clearly been some dissenting voices in this regard), the viability of the Tobago festival another.
Is it now safe to assume the Tobago carnival is a permanent fixture on our cultural landscape? What, if any, will be its relationship to Trinidad's, which is, incidentally, to be launched this Saturday under the theme Come Back Home at the Queen's Park Savannah in Port of Spain?
These are straightforward questions, but they have thus far thrown up a whole set of lacouray from stakeholders.
Winston 'Gypsy' Peters, the ostensible chairman of the National Carnival Commission (NCC), says nobody asked for the NCC's help to stage the Tobago festival.
Dr Charleston Thomas, adviser in the THA's Division of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation, says Tobago sought assistance from the NCC, but to no avail.
This is the second year of the Tobago carnival and the county is split evermore into two separate camps. Is this split to be maintained moving forward?
Nobody owns carnival. Whether separate or in synergy, the THA and the NCC, both of which have statutory interests in these festivals, need a more definite framework for co-operation so that they do not eat into each other.
Otherwise, our culture will pay the price, not the politicians.
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