The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

THE National Junkanoo Authority says a new pool of judges will grade the upcoming Boxing Day and New Year’s Day parades, and it is working to close the long gaps between groups that marred last season’s Boxing Day parades. 

The authority set out its plans at its first official press conference yesterday. It takes over from the National Junkanoo Committee (NJC), which the government put in charge of last season’s parades after stripping the Junkanoo Corporation of New Providence (JCNP) of control.

Last season’s Boxing Day parade began shortly after 9pm on Christmas Day, but long pauses between groups led some spectators to leave before it ended. The NJC acknowledged failures in parade flow and enforcement and removed longtime grand marshal Dwight Rolle, who blamed the delays largely on the absence of penalties that could be enforced against groups.

This season, A groups will have 70 minutes to perform on Bay Street and B groups 50 minutes, said Denzel Rolle, chairman of the NJA’s Parade Management Team. A groups will keep the option of a third lap of Bay Street, depending on how the parade is running, and all groups will still rush along Shirley Street.

Time limits are not new. Last season’s rules required groups to complete their laps within limits set for their division or lose points.

Mr Rolle said his team was responsible for planning and running parades in New Providence and throughout the islands.

Judging, a longstanding source of complaints from groups, will be done by a new pool of judges. Mr Rolle said about 110 people entered a seven-week training programme. Some dropped out for personal reasons, leaving 96 who are now being vetted.

Seating at parades in New Providence and the Family Islands will be adjusted slightly so that emergency medical crews can reach spectators who fall ill. There will also be medical tents.

NJA chairman Dr Christopher Curry said the authority had set up a Family Island Committee to make sure the islands are included in its plans. One challenge, he said, is getting materials to remote Family Island schools registered for Junior Junkanoo so that they can take part.

The NJA will house Family Island group leaders in New Providence for training on November 16, after which they will receive their seed funding. Dr Curry said this showed the authority’s commitment to treating Family Island groups as equal partners in Junkanoo.

Dr Curry was also asked whether the authority had considered suggestions from longtime JCNP chairman Dion Miller, who now sits on the NJA as a statutory member. He did not say whether Mr Miller had made any.

“I am sometimes known as a historian, so I always like to learn from the past. That’s very important,” Dr Curry said. “I have a relationship with Mr Miller that goes back to St Anne’s and I’ve had conversations with Mr Miller and he understands that we’re the future.”

“We are very much familiar with the past parades. We’ve seen the detailing and of course, we work closely with our ministry.”

He said Mr Miller understood the NJA was now responsible for running the parades.

When asked in September whether the JCNP’s powers had been diminished, Mr Miller said: “It is what it is.”

That month, Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage Leslia Miller-Brice said organisations that had long played a role in Junkanoo, including the JCNP, remained important sources of knowledge.

“Mr Dion Miller, he is a part of the National Junkanoo Authority, and so he will be there to guide us, to help us, just to ensure that any mistakes that they would have made in the past, moving forward, that those same mistakes will not be made again,” she said.

The authority was created under legislation passed in March, which the JCNP had likened to an attempt to centralise control and roll back its self-governance. The dispute came to a head in October last year, when the government handed the 2025 parades to the NJC and JCNP leaders accused it of using “political appointees” to destabilise and politicise Junkanoo.

A flyer released yesterday had caused confusion over whether Shirley Street would stay on the route. Mr Rolle said it was meant only to give the parade dates and start times. Junkanooers have also raised questions about seating availability and ticket sales.