Sites and Scenes as Jr. Junkanoo Kicks Off In Nassau - Eleuthera to follow this Saturday

Baystreet, Nassau came to life on Thursday evening, December 11th, with a vibrant showcase of young junkanooers.  From the tiniest little pre-schoolers right on up to the senior high students, each group gave strong performances.  Parents, friends and family were out in full force to  support the schools, reflected in a thoroughly packed Baystreet along the stands.

First up was the pre-school division which included Blue Hill Christian, It's a Small World, Aunt Lilly's, Aunt Jenny's and One on One.  In the primary school division Rivere Academy and Woodcock Primary gave it their all.  The junior high schools saw A.F. Adderley, L.W. Young and H.O. Nash battling it out with strong dance and music performances.  Then the much anticipated senior high schools, C.C. Sweeting, R.M. Bailey, C.R. Walker, North Andros High and Government High showed the full strength of their dedication and creativity in their vibrant display of young junkanoo. 

The evening's event rivaled the splendour and scope of the upcoming main junkanoo events coming later in December.  Timing and organization was bang on with fairly short delays between rival groups. 

Eleuthera's Junior Junkanoo showdown being held this coming Saturday, December 13th, in Tarpum Bay is also expected to have a strong showing this year with, according to officials, nine schools expected to participate including, Deep Creek Primary, Gregory Town Primary, Green Castle Primary, Governor's
Harbour Primary, Tarpum Bay Primary, Rock Sound Primary, St. Anne's Primary, P.A. Gibson Primary and Weymss Bight Primary.  The competition is set to begin around 3pm in Tarpum Bay. 

The Eleutheran had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Anne Higgins, in Special Projects and Cultural Exchange with the Department of Culture, who worked hard along with many others to make the Nassau Junior Junkanoo event the success that it was. 

Dr. Higgins expressed great pleasure with the numbers of parents out supporting the efforts of the young junkanooers.  She also expounded on this year's Christmas Tree Lighting initiative throughout the Family Islands, including Eleuthera, saying, "We've done six family islands, Long Island, Grand Bahama, Abaco, Andros, Exuma and Eleuthera...The Prime Minister really wanted, the good old days of Christmas to come back again, and he felt that in doing that
we'd be bringing our families and communities together to celebrate Christmas."

Higgins added,"The Tree Lighting committee consists of a number of different departments, including National Security, Ministry of Tourism, Department of Culture and many others coming together to make these events happen.  So we've been very excited in putting all of this together.  The  Bahamas Defense Force band and the Royal Bahamas Police Band have also been traveling to the Family Islands during the Tree Lightings".

She expressed her anticipation for visiting Eleuthera saying, "I will be in Eleuthera...along with another co-worker from my department will be coming to celebrate, so Eleuthera we'll be there!  And I know everyone is going to have an exciting time, we're looking forward to that Christmas Tree Lighting
ceremony."

Sites and Scenes from 2008 Junior Junkanoo in Nassau

Jah Bami of Tempo

Ms Lydia Patel of Tempo

Obama - Junior Junkanoo 2008

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