The Tribune

By LETRE SWEETING

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

MEGA resort Baha Mar is continuing its years-long partnership with the Valley Boys Junkanoo group and is the group’s primary sponsor for the nearly sold-out Boxing Day parade and the 2023 New Year’s Day parade.

At a press conference yesterday at Baha Mar, Robert Sands, senior vice president of government affairs at the resort, said Baha Mar is proud to be the primary sponsor for the “leading Junkanoo group” for the parades as well as for other events at the resort throughout the year.

“There’s no question that the leading resort in The Bahamas would sponsor the leading Junkanoo group in The Bahamas. And so we are proud this morning through the Baha Mar Resort Foundation to be the primary sponsor of the Valley Boys this year. The Valley Boys are here multiple times a week, so that our guests can take back just a little bit of the culture of The Bahamas,” Mr Sands said.

“We want to certainly congratulate The Valley Boys. We’re looking for two first places this year. But more importantly, that you continue to do well, that you continue to educate, inform and entertain, as you’ve mentioned, and we wish you well, this coming year. This commitment is a commitment that we will continue for many more years to come,” Mr Sands said.

Valley Boys chairman Brian Adderley said that the Junkanoo group is excited to be back on Bay Street after three years.

“Baha Mar has put (its) money where its mouth is and they have put their action where their mouth is by incorporating Junkanoo and culture into its product. I just wanted to start off by thanking Baha Mar and the Baha Mar Resort Foundation for its support of the Valley Boys since 2015. I just want to say that yes, we have been off for the past three years. But we are excited to be back,” Mr Adderley said.

“We’ve been recruiting and increasing our numbers. That has me frightened by the way. But I would say on the parade, we’re gonna have about three to 400 persons on Boxing Day and New Year’s, but behind the scenes, (there are) even just as many persons supporting our activities to get to the parade,” he said.

The group’s theme for Boxing Day is The Magnificent Wonders of the Deep.

“The reason why we consider this theme to be very important, with global warming, and the push for countries to make sure that their development is sustainable. We feel that by highlighting this theme at this time, it will remind Bahamians as to how important our water resources are and for us to take them very, very seriously, so that they can be sustained for not only future economic development, but for future generations of Bahamians,” Mr Adderley said.

“Imagine The Bahamas without water. And so we’re going to give you a Boxing Day, a deep dive into the waters of The Bahamas, and quite frankly, a glimpse into a new bright blue future,” Mr Adderley said.

The group’s New Year’s Day performance will showcase the state of Florida and its connection to Bahamians.

Meanwhile, Junkanoo tickets for Boxing Day are nearly gone.

Dwayne Davis, chief information officer for Cable Bahamas Group of Companies, told The Tribune that as of yesterday, that the Boxing Day parade was “basically” sold out.

“The Boxing Day Junkanoo parade is basically sold out. The ratio is 58 percent of the tickets sold online and 42 percent of the tickets sold in the store. So far, as of yesterday 2pm, there were a total of only 745 tickets remaining for Boxing Day, but there are over 6,000 tickets remaining for New Year’s Day,” Mr Davis said yesterday.