Hundreds of Anguillians and visitors rubbed shoulder to shoulder, feasted and enjoyed the varied entertainment and culinary delights at Festival Del Mar. It was the usual social and cultural event celebrating the sea, now in its 9th year in the fishing and coastal village of Island Harbour, and was held over the Easter weekend (March 26 & 27).
The throngs swelled noticeably during the late evening hours in particular. Among the patrons were a number of travel writers, other members of the travel trade press and a BBC 2 team filming episodes of island life in Anguilla for the first time. Observers were of the view that the festival provided good publicity ratings for Anguilla: all of this despite the high wind and rough sea conditions which stopped the A-class boat race and grossly limited the deep-sea fishing competition.
Chief Minister and Minister of Tourism, Mr. Victor Banks, speaking during the Anguilla Government’s press conference on Tuesday this week, said in part: “Festival Del Mar, by all accounts, was a success; it was well-attended and all kudos to the organisers for ensuring that it happened.”
Minister of Social Development, Mr. Evans McNiel Rogers, was also pleased with the successful outcome of Festival Del Mar. He thanked the organisers who worked hard behind the scenes and the general public for supporting the festival. He took the opportunity to reveal that later on he would be taking legislation to the House of Assembly to establish a cultural foundation to govern all the festivals in Anguilla and create a more coordinated cultural awareness on the island.
Parliamentary Secretary, Mr. Cardigan Connor, who has responsibility for Tourism and Sports, and works closely with the Minister of Social Development, Mr. Evans McNiel Rogers, on cultural affairs, spoke more fully about Festival Del Mar. He was at the time speaking during the Government’s radio programme – Upfront: A Conversation with the Nation on Tuesday evening, hosted by Mr. Mark Romney.
“For the 9th year of Festival Del Mar, the organisers have again put together a pretty impressive marketing tool for Anguilla and throughout the island everybody is talking about it,” he observed. “It was pretty impressive to have seen the large number of visitors, and I know that for next year – the 10th anniversary – the organisers are planning a big thing for Festival Del Mar although I am not sure how bigger they can make it.”
Mr. Connor continued: “We, in tourism, see the event as a great opportunity to help market Anguilla. In fact, we had a number of travel writers from the United States, Germany and Italy on the island and the Tourist Board took advantage of [assisting to] stage the event by bringing them in. Apart from the festival, the Tourist Board also got involved with Devonish Art Gallery, the Fountain Cavern and Mr. Colville Petty’s Heritage Museum as well. You can sell food up to a point, but having other cultural events and places where travel writers can go, is also of much importance to marketing Anguilla. The music was very cultural and, all in all, I think Festival Del Mar went down very well.”
Mr. Connor added: “When we are talking about diversifying the tourism industry, rather than just looking mainly at the North American or European markets, we also need to look at the Caribbean market. Something like Festival Del Mar appeals very much to Caribbean nationals so, as time goes on, it will open up the doors for a number of other villages in Anguilla in addition to Island Harbour. There is something special about those villages as well and there is also an opportunity for them to embrace what is very cultural to them. But for Island Harbour, without doubt, the fishermen there are the kings of the sea.”
The organisers of Festival Del Mar issued the results of the various competitive activities as follows:
Bottom Fishing
1st place Chefton Bryan: weight 80lbs
2nd place Naboth Richardson: weight 40lbs
Biggest Total Catch
1st place Chefton Bryan: 90.4 lbs
2nd place Naboth Richardson: 40lbs
3rd place Sergio Hodge (Last Scamp SXM): 31.2 lbs
Biggest Individual Fish
Sergio Hodge (Last Scamp SXM): 31.2lbs
Class B Boat Race
1st place De Storm
2nd place Tornado
3rd place Dark Shadows
Model Boatrace
1st place Matthias Pemberton
2nd place Peter Webster
Swimming Relay from Pier to Scilly Cay, Scilly to Pier
1st place Jaclyn Mattson & Elise Larson
2nd place Ira Bloom & Andrei Bucsko
3rd place Nelson Fabian & Johvie Morton
4th place Matthias Pemberton & Daniel Smith
5th place Christian R. Liong
Swimming Sprint
1st place Elise Larson
2nd place Matthias Pemberton
3rd place Landy Vanterpool
4th place Kian Webster
Culinary Results
Top Chef Keith Harrigan
Best fish Karla Hughes
