For the first time, there has been a preview at Government House of the various contestants in a number of shows of the Anguilla Summer Festival. That was when the participants in the 2015 events were entertained there on Thursday evening, July 16, at a reception hosted by Governor Christina Scott.
Among those at the large gathering, and were called up to be introduced, were the contestants in the Miss Anguilla pageant; the Prince and Princess competition; Scotiabank’s Talented Teen competition; the Miss Summer Swimsuit competition; and the Calypso King competition. Earlier, the promoter of the wet fete event, Sean Fitzpatrick, presented some VIP tickets and t-shirts to the Governor on behalf his team.
The Governor told the contestants that it was a pleasure having them at Government House. She thanked them for their hard work in preparing for the shows in terms of the various practices and costumes. “I certainly look forward to seeing the shows and enjoying the fun, and I know that it is going to be bigger and better than last year,” she stated. “Thank you very much for coming. It is lovely to have you here.”
Mr. Cardigan Connor, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Youth Affairs, was very impressed with the large number of contestants at the reception and he thanked the Governor for hosting it. “As long as you have the youth involved, you have the present and the future,” he stated. “The same holds good for boat racing, as well, which has a special place in my heart. The Summer Festival is not just about carnival. While carnival is fun and boat racing is also fun; and boat racing – whether the people are from West End, Blowing Point, Sandy Ground, North Hill, Island Harbour, East End, or wherever – it brings us altogether.
“We, in the Government, could put money in a budget [for the Anguilla Summer Festival, but it is people like John Benjamin, Briggy [Fitzroy Tomlinson] and their committees who are the ones who come up with the ideas. There are many other committees as well as calypsonians, writers and other persons, and even those who just dance on j’ouvert morning. Carnival or the Summer Festival is all about you. Without you it is not going to happen.”
Mr. Connor continued: “You have a lot of control as to how we should project our image to the rest of the world. That is because the posters for the carnival season will be displayed by the Tourist Board to represent and market Anguilla. It is therefore very important that all of us play our part.”
He commended Mr. Benjamin “for doing a lot of work, over the years, to make it possible for Anguilla to have the best beach party in the Caribbean for August Monday.” Likewise, he said that August Thursday promised to be an enjoyable time with the upcoming boat race at Meads Bay, assisted by Mr. Benjamin, the Summer Festival Committee and the West Fest Committee. He added that it was an effort to ensure “that boat racing is brought back to West End”.
Mr. Benjamin, Chairman of the Anguilla Summer Festival, said in part: “I must thank the Governor for organising this event. I don’t think any other Governor has done this before and I appreciate it very much…Without our committee members, and all our helpers as well, this could not happen, especially my colleague, Briggy. We go back almost twenty-five years in carnival, but before that we had a company together called Lotus Promotions so we have been working together for over thirty years.”
Mr. Benjamin also acknowledged the assistance of the Government which contributed some EC$890,000 to help fund the Anguilla Summer Festival this year. He hoped the Governor would be able to persuade the Executive Council to increase that amount, noting that the previous contribution for the last twenty years was EC$1.5 million. He also hoped that the various sponsors would come on board and deliver so that Anguilla could have a bigger and better Summer Festival this year.
