YESTERDAY’s FOREDAY MORNING Jam was impressive in more ways than one.
The event featured a record number of bands, and it also got off to a timely start – something which has not happened in years.
And with 46 registered bands expected to take part, some concerns had been raised that the organization and the quality of the event would have been compromised.
However, the thousands of revellers who flocked to Bridgetown, and more specifically to the BTII car park, the Helipad and the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) – the three starting points for Foreday Morning – did not have to wait long to hit the road.
By 1:45 a.m., 15 minutes after the scheduled start, the first of the 46 registered bands had already left BIDC’s compound. They were soon joined by bands from the other starting venues, converging on the Harbour Road before eventually making their way to Spring Garden Highway.
Several revellers from the band Island Fusion, which departed from the Helipad, were elated at the timely manner in which their band took to the streets. Kimberly Griffith, 27, told the SUNDAY SUN that this was her sixth straight year participating in Foreday Morning, and it was the best so far.
“Usually, you find that you have to wait a long time before your band gets on the road. But today [yesterday], we didn’t have to wait long at all. We were on the road very quickly,” she reported. “It should be like this every year.”
Another reveller, who only gave her name as Keisha, said: “This is the first time that I can remember that I wasn’t staked out waiting for my band to move.”
Sheldon Coppin, who jumped with Mas Invasion, also gave this year’s event a thumbs-up.
“Last year, the band that I was in took forever to move off and when we did move off, the revellers from outside took over,” he complained. “But things are much better this year, and I have to big-up the police because so far they have been doing a really good job keeping everything in order.” (RB)
Thumbs-up for Foreday session
