‘Thank God for the Island man them’ – Mrs Eileen L. Parsons, OBE
In the assessment of Mrs Parsons, Festival has come a long way. She was the Chairperson of the BVI Festival and Fairs Committee from 1975 – 1983.
She said that it was the ‘Island man’ who used to come out to support fundraising activities for Festival back in the days of old. “...BVIslanders do not go out when it becomes dark, I don’t know why. And jumbies no longer roam this place so I see no reason why, but they do not support things up to today,” said Mrs Parsons.
A perfect example that she used was the scant turnout of locals at Wednesday night’s Calypso competition held at the Iris Freeman Festiville. “Look at the Village last night and tell me how many of our people were there, out of every ten eight were outsiders, why we do it I don’t know and it happens, I met it in 1975...”
At the time Mrs. Parsons was taking members and visitors to the Rotary Club of Tortola’s weekly meeting, down memory lane as to the genesis of Festival. She is said to be the lone member of the very first Festival committee that is alive today and her memories are crystal clear.
She recalled that it took commitment and lots of fundraisers to keep the Festival going from the onset. “…. I know some Friday nights we were able to sell 80 cases of Shaffer beer... they just passed through the ice water because the sale was so and we were about between June the 15 and August Tuesday night in 1975 we were able to raise $84k in the BVI at that time,” she told the Rotarians.
In addition she said every Friday night they had a fish fry and every other Saturday night she cleared her front room in McNamara where they kept a house party, paying a dollar to enter and everyone purchased their food. “And the people supported us,” she said.
She also recalled that back in those days persons were very good in volunteering at doing things to make Festival successful. She noted the period when they were constructing the stage for Festival the Public Works Department workers were in the habit of passing by and assisting for free, a far cry from today’s situation.
“…Today nobody, but nobody does anything for Festival unless the price is tripled, they are not lifting a straw unless you pay them. So we have gone away from being helpful in the Festival so now it’s a money making something, everybody wants a booth. I wonder how the booth owners make money,” she said.
As to the many jostling for booths Mrs Parsons was concerned about their ability to make a reasonable dollar as she said that today they are as many booths on the road as they are in the Village. “…and we keep wondering why we allow it to happen but in our country you can’t tell us what to do because ‘is here we from'".
.png)
.png)
.png)
Follow Us On
64 Responses to “‘Thank God for the Island man them’ – Mrs Eileen L. Parsons, OBE”
The silly language that I am referring to is " island man" these word should not have been spoken by Mrs: Parsons. We are all island people, there are not continents in the Caribbean and she knows quite well that the term "island man " is taken by some as demeaning. She should have shown more respect for our Caribbean brothers and sisters. The fact that you do not find thing offensive with her choice of words is that you may tend to harbor the same thoughts as expressed by Mrs: Parsons.
Know who is in the struggle with you. Don't mix it up with who is in the fight agains you!
One love!!!!