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BARBADOS' biggest fete, Crop-Over's Party Monarch
Competition, is in for a revamp.

This follows a shortfall of just over $250 000 in
budgeted revenue for what in previous years had
been the most lucrative Crop-Over event for the
National Cultural Foundation (NCF).

With the various costs of staging the non-revenue
generating events added, the NCF spent $3.7
million to stage this year's Crop-Over Festival
and recorded revenue of $3.2 million – a loss of $500 000.

"We do have plans on the drawing board to revamp
next year's Crop-Over Party Monarch Competition.
We are seeking to avoid a repetition of this year
when we recorded a shortfall of just over $250
000 in budgeted revenue for the event," chairman, Al Gilkes said yesterday.

"Based on the recent history of the event, we had
projected gate receipts of about $400 000, based
on attendance by some 22 000 patrons. These
projections represented a slight increase over
the 2004 figures when some 19 000 persons bought
tickets for the events, resulting in gross receipts of approximately $390 000.

"Unfortunately, the circumstances which affected
this year's competition caused us to suffer a 68
per cent variance between the budgeted and the
actual gate receipts, which fell from the $390
000 in 2004 to a $126 000 this year with a mere 7
000 tickets sold," Gilkes explained.

He said they had not yet finalised plans for the
Party Monarch Competition, but stressed that
those would be presented to the relevant
stakeholders for their scrutiny and input before any details were made public.

The NCF chairman confirmed that the 2005 finances
had also been severely impacted because inclement
weather had affected the attendance at
Cohoblopot, the foundation's other big revenue earner.

"The heavy rain resulted in a $160 000 take at
the gate, 32 per cent below the budgeted $240
000, a shortfall of just over $80 000," he said.

"That $3.7 million figure for the various events
included $490 000 in performance fees, $398 000
in prize monies, $175 000 in subventions to the
calypso tents and $50 000 in royalties," Gilkes noted

He said that with the exception of Party Monarch
and Cohoblopot, there were increases at most of the other events.

"We did see moderate increases in attendance for
almost all the other paid events. The opening
gala was up from 2 400 last year to just over 3
000 this year, the Pic-O-de-Crop semis from 1 300
to 1 500, the Finals from 3 700 to 4 800, and
Grand Kadooment at the Stadium from 2 500 to 2 600," he said. (MN)

I see yah doing some research man..Thanks for this information. You have to be able to attract people. We all know the fact that timmy & Lil Ric not being there among othe rpopular artist is the main reason for this.

Yup...no Rick, Mr DJ, Timmy, or even Eric Lewis. I was bored out my mind aside from Edwin & Natahlee. I bet all the Rejects Fetes made a killing though

lol

And don't forget that sunday at the plantation was rammed them folks probably would of been at cobblerpot.

But we all went to see alison

__________________
The carnival on my mind,on my mind, on my mind, on my head. Ohh o o o ohho o o o ohho o o o oh , Carnival, carnival, carnival.

I took a nap. Not even alcohol could make me enjoy that day.

Well I guess they have all learnt their lesson. What they think that the show itself was so powerful it would of made money regardless of who was there

remember that morning did rain, so we were watching one particular patch of mud to see who would slip.

* I took a nap too*

I remember the papers saying that there was lots of fighting to get in at the reject fete (the one at the colgate-palmolive factory).

Yeah...Reds mentioned a man that slipped in the mud at Party Monarch. I saw plenty women with their backsides covered in mud. I think had the lineup been better, the rain/mud wouldn't have mattered as much. The other event that day with Rick and dem...they broke down the fence. I like Cohobblopot, though I am really bored for the first couple hours. So the event they had at Plantation was nice. I was actually shocked at the turnout for that one.

You were forever taking a nap

Nuff people did falling. But one man fell and he managed to balance his plate of food and open beer. That was the best.

Even though it was quite boring I would have rather been there than at that reject fete. The people coming outta there when I reach back near the Sports Club were loud, crass, and looked quite the criminal element.

Yeah...I didn't have a horrible time, the day was just kinda long. I should have drank more(but I hate having to use the restroom over there...so I limited any liquids).

NCF supposed to be looking at the judging criteria. They better cuz i never missed a East Coast yet. Stayed home and the whole day i was like a fish outta water.