INSIGHT: Festival chaos should have been avoided

As of Tuesday, May 2, 2017

A photograph of Fyre Festival passengers stranded at the airport in Great Exuma early on Friday posted on Twitter

The Fyre Festival organisers showed great disrespect in clashing with the beloved and traditional regatta in Exuma, Robert Dupuch Carron says

Since the wee hours of Friday morning, Bahamians from all walks of life have been venting their anger at the astounding level of disrespect displayed by the shambolic organisation and incompetence displayed by the Fyre Festival organisers, all whilst left scratching their heads in disbelief that our Ministry of Tourism would aid and abet such efforts during Exuma Regatta week.

If reports from those who met with the Fyre Festival folks are to be believed, the organisers were warned their schedule was far too ambitious and that they lacked the necessary experience required to overcome the logistical challenges of executing an event on such a remote island as Norman's Cay- the beautiful former hideaway of notorious Colombian Cocaine kingpin Carlos 'Joe' Lehder.

In addition co-pronoter Billy McFarland was strongly recommended to enlist the talents of Bahamians who had expertise in pulling off similar sized international events like Jamzfest, P Diddy, Junkanoo Carnival, Lady Gaga and Beres Hammond.

While the Fyre Festival chose to ignore such sound advice, a gaggle of genetically-blessed, bikini-clad models - Alessandra Ambrosio, Bella Hadid, Hailey Baldwin, Emily Ratajkowski, Elsa Hosk, and Paulina Vega - shamelessly promoted the #fyrefestival coming to a Bahamian private island called Fyre Cay (real name Norman's Cay) to their legions of fans and social media followers worldwide.

They informed them that the festival would be "packed with music, culture, art, food, and more than $1 million in real treasure and jewels hidden on the island" with tickets ranging from a basic $450 to a mind boggling $250,000 for a VIP Experience. Sadly this utopia ended up a far cry from the truth according to every report we have obtained.

Instead of rescheduling the event, the Fyre Festival organisers decided to switch from tiny Norman's Cay to George Town, situated on much larger Great Exuma.

Like many a doomed ship, these foreign organisers took the ill- advised decision to ignore the dire warnings from many Bahamians and instead set sail on a course which would invariably place themselves on a collision course with the Exuma Regatta and the Bahamian populace.

Sadly the Fyre Festival failed to appreciate the historic significance of the Exuma Regatta Week.

If the Fyre Festival felt overwhelmed by the logistical problems it was experiencing on Norman's Cay, these matters would look like child's play in comparison to the nightmare that was about to explode on Great Exuma given that all hotel rooms, buses, taxis and majority of the rental houses had been booked years in advance for the famous George Town Regatta.

In desperation the Fyre Festival organisers are reported to have inquired if the Exuma Regatta could be rescheduled, lending credence to what Piers Morgan recently described as a US culture of 'rich, publicity craving, materialistic, talentless, self absorbed, social media fanatics' who arrogantly believe they can do as they please.

As if that is not enough, the ensuing fiasco shows what happens when you waltz into a sovereign nation - demanding that your wishes be catered to - simply because you believe you have a few dollars in your pocket or a trust fund.

The ensuing media circus and ire surrounding the Fyre Festival ended up being best described as a "complete train wreck" by festival goers.

While paying guests were told they could expect to stay in 'modern, eco-friendly, geodesic domes' the super-rich had the option of upgrading to hire yachts for more than $100,000 says the Daily Mail of London.

But those who expected to be pampered with luxurious VIP service likened the accommodations to disaster zone relief tents, where they had to search in the dark for their luggage, towels and toilet paper for the Porter-a-Pots.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) described the festival in glowing terms. 'Instead of $250,000 luxury oceanfront accommodations, 'pop up' five star culinary experiences, people found shelter in half built tent cities alongside feral dogs, locked up in the international departure lounge of Exuma Airport or 'luxury food court' nothing more than people sitting on folding chairs.

Adding injury to insult, the same Z list celebrities whose loyal followers and fans were not given advance notice of "kinks in the festival" were now left stranded - being fed slabs of cheese on sad white bread while the promised recording artists and security failed to appear, added the BBC.

Instead they shamelessly posted photos of themselves lounging by the pool of top Miami South Beach hotels or showcasing new scantily clad outfits, instead of heading to Exuma to assist.

For a government whose manifesto was putting Bahamians first it is unfathomable that the Ministry of Tourism did not have the foresight to step in and prevent such a colossal disconnect, avoiding the ensuing global public relations nightmare.

Clearly the promoters of the Fyre Festival seemed oblivious as to how offensive their conduct would be viewed by the Bahamian populace and how they had now "yucked up our vexation".

In the end, the vast majority of Exumians have expressed ire that the festival was attempting to usurp their beloved Regatta by directly competing for the visiting tourists and locals with scantily clad wannabe models, NFL stars and recording acts.

Lets put this into perspective. Imagine for a minute if thousands of Bahamians in Junkanoo costumes, with cowbells, goat skin drums, Bacardi, Heneiken, Kalik and Sands Beer in tow, descended upon Palm Springs demanding all hotel rooms, guest houses, taxi, buses and RV parks - which had already been booked in advance - informing the citizens that we ain't checking for Coachella this year we "Jammin' Island Style"?

Clearly the Minister of Tourism needs to provide answers to the nation as to how such a matter was allowed to develop without anyone in his Ministry having the foresight to say "Hold on fellas! Love the concept but we have an issue with the dates?"

The sad reality is our nation is once again left to pick up the pieces with a backhanded apology from the Fyre Festival and some lame future promise of compensation.

If Ja Rule wanted to show some real testicular fortitude we would be delighted to welcome him back next year on his own and assist him in partnering with the right individuals to successfully execute what could be such a wonderful concept for our Bahamaland.

• Robert Dupuch Carron is president of The Tribune Media Group. Comments and responses to insight@tribunemedia.net

jusscool 6 years, 12 months ago

Did Tal write this article? Wow!

bahamas12345 6 years, 12 months ago

The MOT doesn't have time to answer any questions cause they to busy trying to hide the monies that they received. And Normans Cay? Where would they have stayed there? There can only be half a dozen or more places to stay.

ThisIsOurs 6 years, 12 months ago

"The organisers were again advised to reschedule the event to avoid competing with the famous 60 and more-year-old Georgetown regatta; one of the few times each year during which many Exumians - across all walks of life - can make a good bit of change."

I don't understand why this was just "advice". A concert like this needs permits. These island communities can only sustain a certain number of people at any given time. All it would take was for one of these MOT reps, who now backing up faster than Bolt, to say, "you can't get a permit for that weekend", and poof problem gone. "How many people are coming and where are the rooms booked?". I think MOT dropped the ball on this one. This is looking just like the Junkanoo carnival "change the date for a rally" decision. I wonder if the same person ok'd this. Did someone take money to overlook all of the issues?

Guess what, it een Jah Rule who name getting drag through the mud, it's "The Bahamas", there's no "we weren't a part of this" on this one. The Bahamas is a major stakeholder. Unfortunate.

Porcupine 6 years, 12 months ago

Please Tribune.... Is this a real article? Or is it a fake comment? Piers Morgan? Are you for real? A notable intellectual? Who allowed these musicians to run roughshod over The Bahamas? Who can't seem to reign in the murderers, the criminals, can't figure out how to raise the education level above a D-? Foreign musicians? Jeez. Is it really possible that we Bahamians can criticize another country for their "culture"? Have you not driven through Nassau? Do you not see the filth, the homeless, the lack of courtesy on the roads? Any person who interacts with The Ministry of Tourism understands how far we have to go as a nation. Perhaps, this is the problem here. We do not take ownership of our utter failures. It is always "the other" who has sullied our reputation, caused our problems, infected our culture. The Bahamas could begin the reversal of our obvious national and social decline by accepting and acknowledging the truth. Looking in the mirror, so to speak. This opinion does nothing to help us along the road to reality.

DDK 6 years, 11 months ago

I actually think the "Piers Morgan" comment is very apropos. Just take a look at their President!

Porcupine 6 years, 11 months ago

And, look a Perry Christie........better?

Clamshell 6 years, 12 months ago

A most excellent commentary. Bravo. But as the story has been reported in the U.S., it doesn't seem that anybody with any sense is blaming the Bahamas -- rather the absolutely clueless, brain-dead "celebrities" who think the Bahamas is just an extension of Miami Beach and they can organize a major event just by gassing about it on social media.

ThisIsOurs 6 years, 11 months ago

Ask those people if they're coming back to "the Bahamas" again

SamF 6 years, 11 months ago

Yeah. That's the biggy. Doesn't matter what or how it happened.

SamF 6 years, 11 months ago

As an American who loves the Bahamas I feel for you. Months ago I saw the hype about such a festival and figured it had to be a scam. No way, (Norman Cay at the time) was going to support such an event. And the details were so sketchy. Your MOT really really dropped the ball on this one when they allowed it to run with the regatta. It's too bad as it gives your tourism trade a bad taste.

concernedcitizen 6 years, 11 months ago

We approved this mess and weeks and days before our officials could see this was a disaster , but too many of local government had contracts for busing etc ,,we did what we always do took the money ..It will be interesting to see who got the big contracts for the NEMA tents etc ..I saw who got the contracts etc ,,and who ,which MP approved this for Regatta week , they had to get approval ..As another poster said ,our problem is we never take responsibility for anything ,in public ,governance or our private lives

INSIGHT: Festival chaos should have been avoided

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