Organizers of this year's V.I. Carnival Pan-o-Rama say the fact that there's an admission charge for the event for the first time doesn't seem to have deterred bands from taking part, and they hope it won't keep audiences away, either. Fifteen groups are scheduled to perform Sunday starting at 7 p.m. on the Lionel Roberts Stadium stage.
At first, leaders of some of the bands planning to participate balked at the idea of an admission charge — or at least at the announced cost of tickets, $10 for adults and $5 for children.
Both Pan-o-Rama Committee chair Lueben Davis and V.I. Carnival Committee chair Kenneth Blake said that the idea of charging admission had been under consideration in years past. According to Davis, the government's current fiscal crisis and the resulting cut in funding for Carnival 2000 combined to make this the year that it became reality.
Blake said the negative feedback he has gotten "is not that we are charging, but that what we are charging is too much."
Antilles Middle School principal Polly Watts said the private school at first planned to boycott Pan-o-Rama to protest the admission fees, which school officials considered too high. But "about two weeks ago, at the meeting where the band directors had to say whether they were going to take part, John Hodge, the director of the Rising Stars, convinced them that they were not going to change anything by boycotting," she said. "So, the instructors themselves decided that they would go ahead and take part — and then get an early start next year on trying to change the admission costs to something lower."
Hodge was in a position to know the impact on attendance of changing a popular event from free to paid admission. That's exactly what the Rising Stars did for their annual Christmas concert at the Reichhold Center for the Arts a few years ago, again to $10 for adults and $5 for children. The event has continued to draw near-capacity crowds.
The Pan-o-Rama ticket prices are the same as admission for the Carnival prince and princess show, another big Carnival draw for family audiences. This year, a stadium crowd of about 4,000 people turned out — on Palm Sunday, no less — to see Greglan Ward and Stephanie Brathwaite capture the prince and princess title for Carnival Y2K.
Pan-o-Rama features steelbands mainly from public and private schools in the St. Thomas- St. John district. In recent years, church- and community-based bands have joined in. The most that have ever taken part is 18, Davis said.
"There has been some backlash" on the admission issue, he conceded. "Some people are saying the price is too high." His own opinion: "For 15 bands, I think they are getting their money's worth. You can't please everybody."
The participating groups are the Addelita Cancryn Pan Iguanas, the Antilles Steel Hurricanes, the Bertha C. Boschulte Burning Blazers, the Charlotte Amalie High School Mellow Hawks, the Eudora Kean Devil Rays, Pan in Motion, Meteors, Sts. Peter and Paul Angels of Steel, the St. Thomas All-Stars, the Sibilly Sun Rays, the Territorial Court Rising Stars Steel Orchestra, the Ulla Muller Youth Steelband, the V.I. Housing Authority Youth Steelband and Youth in Action Pandemonium from St. Thomas; and the Love City Pan Dragons from St. John.
In recent years, the hundreds of young steelpan players have attracted thousands of their own family members, classmates and friends to the stadium.
The date of the steelpan event often coincides with the unofficial opening night of the amusement rides at the Children's Village, now being assembled in the Fort Christian parking lot, providing a dual incentive for a family outing in town.
Watts said she wasn't aware of any school that decided to stick with the boycott. "I think all the schools that wanted to take part are going to do so," she said.
While she hopes that parents and other supporters will attend Sunday's event, she added, "I expect the turn-out will be smaller than usual."
