Written by Jay Blessed. Posted in Feature Posts
We (Jay Blessed at The Voice) have been following the unraveling of the West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA) since last year and every day we hear of more developments within the organization.
Check out this very interesting article by Tony Best titled Move to Save West Indian Carnival and Keep it on Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway published for Carib News as WIADCA’s crisis triggers effort to strengthen festival and end its financial woes.
Move to Save West Indian Carnival and Keep it on Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway
WIADCA’s Crisis Triggers effort to strengthen festival and end its financial woes
Tony Best
As the West Indian American Day Carnival Association tries to calm the turmoil caused by the departure of most of its directors, a determined effort is underway to keep the largest cultural festival alive and well.
Just as important is the call to keep the annual Labor Day parade that attracts more than two million revelers, spectators and vendors on Eastern Parkway. These campaigns are a form of pushback against long-standing wishes of some residents of Brooklyn who have been campaigning behind the scenes for years to relegate the spectacular phenomenon to Brooklyn’s back streets instead of maintaining it on one of Borough’s most prominent thoroughfares.
“We must do whatever is in our power to ensure both the longevity of WIADCA and the vibrancy of the carnival,” said Raymond Luke, Chairman of Sesame Flyers International, a major participant in the annual cultural extravaganza which contributes tens of millions of dollars to the City’s coffers. “It is very important to all of us to have the parade’s presence on Eastern Parkway maintained. “
Rheba Escalera, Director of Operations and Marketing of Burokeets, a prize winning costume band that puts hundreds of revelers on the Parkway every year, agreed.
“The problems WIADCA is facing need urgent attention and the prospects for change following the resignation of board members would be a good thing for both the organization and the carnival,” she told Carib News. “But what’s clear is that the festival is important, vital, to people from the Caribbean who constitute an important part of economic and social landscape of New York City, especially in Brooklyn. We must ensure that it remains on the Parkway because if it is no longer there as some City police officers would like to see occur, we would never be able to get it back.”
Replies
My opinion.
Letter about WIADCA.docx