Bacchanal, Xodus on route for Sunday
Published:Friday | July 8, 2022 | 12:09 AMSade Gardner and Stephanie Lyew/Gleaner Writers
Carnival bands are focusing on wider roads for Sunday’s road march, including Hope Road, Lady Musgrave Road, Trafalgar Road, Oxford Road and Knutsford Boulevard.
“Our starting and ending point is at The Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre. The first leg of the route takes us on to Lady Musgrave Road to Trafalgar then back to Hope Road past Devon House to Ranny Williams for lunch,” Bacchanal Director Nicholas Franklin told The Gleaner.
He said the route Bacchanal has planned for this year is approximately two miles shorter than the old route.
“For the post-lunch route, we go the opposite direction, down Hope Road to Trafalgar Road into the heart of New Kingston and we return to Ranny Williams. The route is slightly different, and we see where we take our band on wider roads,” Franklin shared.
It is expected that persons marching with the band will begin meeting at the starting points by 10 a.m., but the festivities kick off at 11 a.m.
Xodus revellers will meet at a similar time. Festival Director Pierre Gobault notes that for previous Carnival in Jamaica celebrations, the majority of revellers would meet up the band by 11 a.m., “and we would usually start by 10:30 am, so there is no significant difference in terms of time.
“We officially open at 10 a.m. at Devon House for breakfast to hit the road at 11 a.m. The reason for this, is to give revellers enough time to meet and eat,” Gobault continued.
While it is uncertain whether the bands will converge at any point, they are expected to run back-to-back. “I think the big story of carnival is both Xodus and Bacchanal have moved their lunch stops; we (Bacchanal) are up at Ranny Williams, Xodus is at Devon House, and the two bands will be using a common route,” co-director at Bacchanal Jamaica Michael Ammar Jr told The Gleaner. “You’ll be able to stand in one place and see everything and the two bands will be running back-to-back. Bacchanal will be ahead in the morning, Xodus will be heading in the afternoon, and what it does is create one route for carnival so everybody can gather on those routes. We’re going with the much wider roads and cut out the small roads like West King’s House and all those roads and have gone with the four and three lanes so that it’s more spacious and people are not on top of each other. You still have to try and social distance as much as possible.”
Only two bands will be on the road this Sunday as Downtown Kingston Carnival organisers has announced that the band has postponed its staging of carnival until next year.