Despite a reduction in the amount of funding from the government, the Virgin Islands Carnival Committee will proceed with plans for Carnival 2000.
There was clear disappointment when Carnival officials learned last week that the 23rd Legislature had reduced the annual allotment from $300,000 to $250,000. The Carnival Committee even hinted that it might not put on the annual month-long celebration.
But after a weekend meeting, Chairman Kenneth Blake said members have accepted the situation.
"The bottom line is we are going to put on our annual Carnival but there will be cuts as the committee makes up the shortfall in government funding," he said at a Monday morning news conference.
Blake identified several areas in which Carnival Committee expenses will be reduced, including the elimination of many VIP passes to paid events and an overall reduction in cash prizes awarded in various competitions such as the queen, prince and princess and calypso competitions.
While the Carnival will go on in April, the committee clearly resented the decision by senators to reduce the allocation.
Finance Committee Chair Lorraine L. Berry said the cut was an effort to be fair to all similar celebrations that had their customary allotments cut by the governor. Carnival Committee Executive Director Caswil Callendar rejected that.
"We are the only of the three festivals that maintain a year-round office, website and maintain a presence in the community year-round, and it takes funding to make this happen," he said.
Callendar said in the end it's "an insult" to the hundreds of volunteers who make Carnival happen.
The committee wants the government to see Carnival's expense more as an investment, Callendar said, noting that the annual celebration generates enough economic activity to increase significantly the government's gross-receipts revenue for that period. He presented numbers that reflected a gross-receipts increase of $2.4 million during Carnival 1997.
Blake also emphasized the public draw of Carnival, and urged not only more government but private-sector investment in the event.
Specific information about the Carnival celebration scheduled for April and May is available on-line at www.vicarnival.com.
This year, eight St. Thomas hotels are offering Carnival vacation packages that could include participation in the parade, complete with a Carnival costume.
For guests who want to view the parade but not march down the road, one package offers a camera, special seating at the parade and transfers to and from the event.
The packages will be offered after Feb. 1 for stays of up to seven nights at Best Western Emerald Beach, Carib Beach and Marriott's Frenchman's Reef, Renaissance Grand, Sapphire Beach, Wyndam Sugar bay, and Holiday Inn Windward Passage.
