Minister for Pan-African Affairs and Heritage Trevor Prescod is calling for a re-examination of the Holetown Festival, lamenting that its current form does not fully reflect the breadth of Barbadian history and culture.
Speaking during a cultural heritage workshop this week, Prescod said he has been grappling with how the annual celebration is framed, particularly its focus on Barbados’ settlement at Holetown nearly 400 years ago.
He said: “I am also struggling with a debate… on how do we refine the so-called settlement at Holetown.”
Founded in 1977 by the late broadcaster Alfred Pragnell, former St James parliamentarian Keith Simmons and the Trents Northern Youth Group, the eight-day Holetown Festival commemorates the anniversary of the first English settlement in 1627. Held in February, the festival features a mix of cultural education, street parties, and ceremonial displays.
Pressed further on his concerns, Prescod told Barbados TODAY that the festival’s narrative must acknowledge the full historical reality of those who arrived on the island.
“English people alone did not land at Holetown,” he said. “The ships that arrived had African people too, whether enslaved or not enslaved.”
He maintained that any modern interpretation of the festival must reflect that broader story, rather than a narrow historical lens.
“A festival, if it evolves, it still cannot exclude the nature of fishermen, ordinary people in the streets,” Prescod said.
He also criticised what he sees as an increasing focus on commercialisation and tourism at the expense of grassroots participation.
“To me, the emphasis is placed on how this festival could attract large numbers of people and who make money at the festival,” he said, adding that participation is often driven by organised, state-led structures.
“The people who participate are [sometimes] organised by the State itself.”
Prescod argued that greater space must be created for ordinary Barbadians to take ownership of the event.
“You want a people’s festival… everybody got to get stall space,” he said, suggesting that access should be widened once basic health and safety requirements are met.
He further questioned the growing influence of hotels in shaping the festival experience.
“The hotels kind of monopolise the space, but you got to keep the festival in the road and then you got to keep it on the interior,” he said.
“Why hotels become so important?”
While acknowledging the need for regulation, Prescod said the festival should remain rooted in community participation and national inclusion.
“Let the whole of Barbados descend on the area,” he said.
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