The Tribune

By PAVEL BAILEY

THE leader of the Saxon Superstars is hopeful for a full return of Junkanoo parades on Bay Street this year with proper government and stakeholder collaboration.

Percy “Vola” Francis spoke to the media after the Shell Saxon Superstars coordinated a Junkanoo rush out at Sunshine Holdings yesterday as part of celebrations for Sir Franklyn Wilson’s 75th birthday. Sir Franklyn was made an honorary member of the Saxons at the event.

Sir Franklyn, a lifelong friend of Mr Francis, was deeply honoured by the surprise ceremony and said jokingly that “only in The Bahamas” can a “work stoppage” be so fun.

“This is simply amazing. This is an unauthorised work stoppage. You know Americans have this thing about ‘only in America’—that’s foolishness. ‘Only in The Bahamas’. Only in The Bahamas do you have unauthorised work stoppage like this and everybody is having fun and everyone happy,” Mr Wilson said.

On the sidelines of the event, Mr Francis expressed his optimism for a possible full return of Junkanoo to Bay Street later this year.

His comments came the same day Minister of Youth Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg said a Junkanoo rush out for last week’s Royal visit was a test run for a Junkanoo parade at this year’s independence celebrations in July.

The parades have been on hold for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I particularly don’t know what to do with myself after being out of the parade for two years and it is good news to hear Junkanoo is around the bend and hopefully to be held sometime, I guess, during the course of the year,” Mr Francis said.

Mr Francis also called for collaboration between the major Junkanoo stakeholders in the immediate future, as he said that they should be the ones to decide how Junkanoo goes forward.

“One of the things that I have in my mind is I would like for us as groups to come together as a group and to strategise as to where we should take Junkanoo after being off Bay Street for two years,” Mr Francis said.

In regards to Junkanoo group funding, even though Mr Francis stated that the Saxons have sponsorship through Shell Bahamas he acknowledged that other groups may have troubles finding funding in these difficult times. He suggested that there should be an increase in government subsidies to assist Junkanoo groups.

Mr Francis also expressed his delight at being able to honour Sir Franklyn on his birthday and said that he is thankful for Shell Bahamas’ continued help in keeping Junkanoo alive in the country.

“Today I’m delighted that we were able to honour Sir Franklyn on his 75th Diamond Jubilee, and their (Sun Oil and Shell Bahamas) sponsorship for the past 30 plus years. So you can imagine the amount of monies that they have pumped into us, if you added all up over 30 years it’s going to be an insurmountable amount of money.”

“And so we thank Mr Wilson, we thank Sun Oil and Shell Bahamas for their continual contribution and on behalf of the Shell Saxon Superstars I want to say that we are really happy to what has happened today on our behalf and we are going to continue to be the pace setters in keeping Junkanoo in the country alive.”