SCHOOLCHILDREN took over Agrofest on day one of the three-day agricultural exhibition as the doors were open solely for them during the morning period.
This has become the tradition for the exhibition, now in its tenth year, in order to give children first exposure and cater to them with exhibits such as petting zoos, jumping tents and mechanical bulls.
As such, hundreds of small, excited faces filled Queen’s Park as teachers struggled to keep their young charges under control.
The children began their journey by witnessing the splendour of the Barbados Defence Force marching past as part of the 375th anniversary of Parliament. The march began on Constitution Road, Bridgetown. Afterwards, the children returned their attention to the many plants, animals and other displays. These included pigs, rabbits, sheep, fish, guinea pigs, cattle, birds and more.
The theme this year is Encouraging Entrepreneurship Through Innovative Agriculture with a view to fostering entrepreneurship in agriculture as a way to bolster the economy and show the economic value to agriculture.
Coordinator Theodore Fraser said there was also another aspect to this year’s exhibition.
“This is our tenth anniversary and we will be reflecting on agriculture from the past. As a result, the entertainment will be tailored to looking back. We have the Heritage Village this year with local artefacts and confectionaries,” he said.
There were also cultural exhibitions from tuk bands and Mother Sally’s as well as the Barbados Landship.
The public was allowed in at 4 p.m. and the exhibition continues today with the dairy and sheep shows; the Junior Duelling Challenge preliminaries; aerobics and a back-in-time calypso show. (CA)
