Barbados Today

When the Kadooment bands take to Spring Garden this year, the Walk Holy Band will be on the Road To Freedom.

The official launch of the band took place this morning at the Praise Academy Of Dance offices in Cavan’s Lane, Bridgetown. This year, there will be three sections: Slavery, Colonial Rule and Independence –– the 50th anniversary of which Barbados is celebrating –– to show where the island has came from and where it is today.

Also this year, the band’s new initiatives are a FamilyFriendly Prize valued at $2,000 which will go to the band with the most family, and friendly costumes and behavior during Grand Kadooment; and a one-day camp for parents who wish to have a safe environment for their children while they jump.

Walk Holy Band founder Marcia Weekes told the media the Crop Over Festival was a time to celebrate, but that it was how the band celebrated that made it stand out, as it sought to tell a story with its different sections.

“That is what our band is about this year. It’s called Road To Freedom.

“The first section of the band is really going to deal with the first people. You’re going to see the indigenous people: Amerindians, Africans. And Britain, The Colonial Rule, is the second section. And the third section is Independence, because it’s talking about the Road To Freedom.

“So we are chronologically [seeing] how we are; where we are here today.”

Weekes also said one of the band’s major aims this year was to provide solutions, instead of every year finding a problem. She pointed out the band’s camp would cater to persons jumping and
having to find someplace to leave their charges

“It has nothing to do with the parents; it’s about the children and about legacy; and changing mindsets,” she said.