New Management for Queen of the Bay?

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Patrick Faber addressed the Independence Day ceremonies for the first time as co-chair of the September Celebrations Commission. His tenure has been marked by controversies over the churches’ objections to celebrating the Tenth on a Sunday and the Queen of the Bay double crowning fiasco, as well as a change to the traditional route of Carnival which proved largely successful. While the decision to move the official Citizens’ Parade and Tenth bram to Monday when the holiday falls on a Sunday seems easy, Faber announced that after the debacle, Cabinet made the decision to have the Queen of the Bay competition enshrined for the people of the nation.

Patrick Faber

Patrick Faber, Co-Chair, September Celebrations Commission

“On the matter of the major challenges in this year’s September festivities, allow me to report that the new route of the Carnival worked well. And allow me to pledge publicly to My Lord Bishops and to the various Christian denominations that from here on forward, when such a conflict arises, the official ceremonies will be held on the Tenth Day itself, while the parade and bramming will fall on the Monday. At our most recent Cabinet session, the members of Cabinet agreed unanimously that the national Queen of the Bay competition be enshrined once and [for] all, for the people of this nation, making it Government and people-owned, and managed by entities who hold it sacred, like its former queens.”