The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE committee spearheading the country’s 41st Independence Day activities said yesterday that this year’s events will be “scaled back” and executed within a budget of under $1 million.

Under the theme “Celebrating Our Culture - A Commitment to Peace” the committee officially announced the festivities which are to take place during the week of July 10.

Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe said while the budget for the celebrations will be smaller this year, it will have no effect on the quality of the events.

Mr Wilchcombe could not give the specific dollar value for the events when asked because he said the numbers were still being worked out. He added that Bahamians could expect an experience that was different from years past.

The events this year will include an attempt at breaking the Guinness World Record for the most people to have blown conch shells at the same time. Committee members said the record now stands at 258 people.

Other festivities will include National Pride Day, the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s Beat Retreat, pop and gospel concerts and a grand celebration on Clifford Park.

Committees on each Family Island will plan their own cultural events to observe Independence Day.

Ian Poitier, director of independence festivities this year, urged all Bahamians to participate in the week of events.

“This year is not a landmark year in the sense that it is not one of the big five or the big zero years, so in some ways we are going to be making less of a birthday fanfare than we have in previous years,” he said at a press conference in the Cabinet Room.

“Having said that it’s going to be a very different show I think from previous years. Hopefully something that will be outstanding and is imaginative and creative as you would expect from a country that is celebrating a year of culture.

“This is a national celebration and we are really looking forward to having every Bahamian fully engaged with independence.”