Goombay Festival competitors trade heritage barbs

 

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

The annual Goombay Festival is an event designed to celebrate the shared Afro-Caribbean heritage in Key West and bring together the Bahama Village community. But a battle over who will produce this year’s festival has ended up polarizing two local non-profit groups, each arguing that their cultural credentials were more authentic than the other’s.

 

When the dust settled at the July 1 City Commission meeting, the incumbent organizing group, Bahama Village Goombay Festival, Inc., won the 4-2 vote and will produce the festival for the third year in a row. But the challengers, Key West Goombay Festival, Inc., made a spirited argument that they should be allowed to take over the two-day festival, which takes place at the beginning of Fantasy Fest in October.

 

While Bahama Village Goombay Festival, headed by Rodney Gullatte, Jr., and Ricky Arnold, will be able to continue managing the festival this year, they had to face accusations from their competitor that they weren’t part of the Bahama Village community and had not been faithful to the Caribbean-African heritage the festival is supposed to promote.

 

“People are afraid to talk race,” said Veronica Stafford, a member of the challenging organization, Key West Goombay Festival, Inc. “I’m talking race because Goombay is of the Afro-Caribbean people. Give us a chance to celebrate our culture.”

 

Indeed, several speakers from Key West Goombay Festival, Inc., advertised their Bahamian and Conch backgrounds to city commissioners, arguing their heritage was more representative of what Goombay represents. The festival is named after a traditional music style in Bahama that involves drums covered in goatskin.

 

“I am not a Johnny-Come-Lately to Key West,” said Glenwood Lopez, half-brother of City Commissioner Clayton Lopez and head of the challenging group. “I am a fourth generation Key Wester and have lived here for 68 years… None of the incumbents live in Bahama Village. None have any vested interest in Bahama Village other than Goombay.”

 

That characterization was angrily disputed by the incumbent organizers. Gullatte pointed out that the previous festival organizers – two of whom are now on the board of the group trying to take over the festival – ran Goombay into the ground and still haven’t paid bills to the city for police, fire and other community services given during past festivals, a fact confirmed by City Attorney Shawn Smith. Gullatte said his group saved the festival in 2012 and has run it successfully for the past two years.

 

“We had a lot more people come to the event last year and they all had a good time,” Gullatte said about the “even better” 2013 festival.

 

His colleague, Ricky Arnold, said the bills incurred by his group over the past two years of producing Goombay had been paid in full and both vendors and attendees were happy with the event. And, by the way, both his grandmothers came from the Bahamas, he said.

 

“I feel attacked… It shouldn’t matter about color. It shouldn’t matter about nothing else. It should matter about what you did and how you provided a service for the city,” he said from the podium.

 

Commissioners and Mayor Craig Cates were visibly uncomfortable at having to choose between two groups with positive credentials. And they were dismayed that a festival designed to unite the community was having the opposite effect.

 

“It’s designed to bring everybody together,” protested Commissioner Lopez.

 

“Well, it’s certainly not done that tonight,” responded Commissioner Mark Rossi.

 

Lopez and Rossi both voted in favor of the challenging organization, Key West Goombay Festival, Inc. But their four colleagues sided with the incumbent. Next year, however, may be a different story. Lopez proposed that the city put out an invitation to bid so that the process of selecting the 2015 festival organizer can be more formalized and less insulting. That led to concerns on the dais that opening up the festival might lead to groups outside of Key West applying to take over the local festival.

 

“Since we’re not at that point now, there’s nothing to prevent us from setting up the [bid] criteria to limit it to Key West-based non-profits,” Commissioner Lopez said after the meeting. “We couldn’t limit it to Bahama Village non-profits. But if it was Key West based, that would be sufficient.”

 

This year’s Goombay Festival will take place Oct. 17 and 18 on Petronia Street.

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