The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

LEADERS of 28 bands have “united” to form the Bahamas Carnival Band Owners Association (BCBOA).

Dario Terrelli, president of the BCBOA, said yesterday the aim of the organisation is to work closely with the Bahamas Festival Commission to “guarantee the country’s first Carnival parade is successful” and to “safeguard the reputation of the country”.

He said all the bands in the association are Bahamian owned and operated businesses.

“We want to ensure that all the local artisans, musicians, costume designers, models, make up artists, food vendors, truck owners and other event and parade suppliers make some money. We are inviting all vendors that provide services for street parades to register with us as a preferred service provider,” he said.

“We saw this as necessary to ensure that Carnival was to be a success and we also do not want one group to have 10,000 persons and another with only 100. We also want to let the public know that the Carnival will not replace Junkanoo but is just an event on the social calendar. The commission is doing an excellent job and we are just helping with that.”

The directors of the BCBOA are Mr Terelli, Rafeale Dean, Rachael Allahar, Sean Burrows, Darren Bastian, Douglas Vaval, Sidney Isaacs, Andrew Pinder and Melissa Allen.

The organisation’s first event will be a road march on Saturday, March 14. The public is invited to participate in the event. Route and time of the parade will be announced at a later date.