[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he year 1979 marked Saint Lucia’s independence from hundreds of bloodied colonial years and will be celebrated for the fortieth time come February 2019. Celebrations are predicted to be grand. The President of the Senate of Saint Lucia, Ms Jeannine Giraudy-McIntyre, announced on Monday, in her capacity as chairperson of the 40th Anniversary Independence Planning Committee, that the planning process has officially begun.
She said: “I’m excited to let you know that a secretariat will be set up at the CDF within the next couple of weeks and we will be working very closely with all the various ministries to present a very robust and exciting agenda for 2019.” The committee’s mandate is to oversee all planning and to encourage the public to engage in the upcoming jubilee.
She underscored that the main focus for the committee is to decentralize celebrations and ensure that every nook and cranny is in on the action. As of now, 40th Independence Anniversary celebrations are forecasted to begin on National Day, December 13, 2018 and end on the same date in 2019.
Giraudy-McIntyre explained: “We say the celebration will take place in February but we would like anything going forward, for example, rum-food festival, jazz and so on, all to have an Independence theme to keep the whole celebration continuing for about a year.”
The annual Independence Rally on February 22 is expected to be “less stiff” and next year “emphasis will be on excitement, fun, participation by the youth”.
The 40th Anniversary Independence Planning Committee has had just one inaugural meeting so far, so the theme, logo and budget have not been revealed. However, Giraudy-McIntyre promises to keep the country adequately updated as plans develop.
“We’re still flushing out the theme,” said the chairperson. “Since we’re a nation grounded in our past of democracy, self-government, we’re now looking at how does the nation move forward. So we’re talking about a futuristic theme and that, we will reveal in a few days.”
A decision on the logo is dependent on the country’s participation. The planning committee has opened an opportunity for local graphic designers to submit their ideas for the next independence anniversary’s logo. “This is a call for all graphic artists to come forward and participate in the logo competition that we are holding. We’re hoping to have that wrapped up within a month and you can communicate with us right now by phone at 717 7297,” encouraged Giraudy-McIntyre.
As for an imaginably lofty budget for an entire year of celebrations, Giraudy-McIntyre says that not even an estimate can be divulged yet because of the premature stage of planning. “That’s why I didn’t mention it,” she said, “but we will be giving updates every few weeks.”
