The Disappearing Panyard - “Move de band ‘cause we want to nice up de land.”

[Pan Times]

“Move de band ‘cause we want to nice up de land.”

by Angela Howard

Brooklyn, New York, USA - The Chantwell got it right. All over there is a natural tension between the ‘progress’ of development and the sheer size of space that you need to create a vibrant panyard. Here in NYC, where we can only realistically maintain a panyard for a several months out of the year due to the costs and weather...

....When we make it so that there is no incentive for a big band to come out, and create a panyard, we lose some intangible piece of our culture that I, for one, think is worth preserving. Yes, we have to struggle against gentrification, but we must also preserve some of the more abstract things that draw us together and define us.

“As I turn around, a next panyard gone.”

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“Move de band ‘cause we want to nice up de land.”