As St. Lucia gets ready to draw the curtains on the 2026 St. Lucia Jazz and Arts Festival and simultaneously usher in the 2026 St. Lucia Carnival season, the debate rages on with regards to the use of the island’s sporting facilities to host entertainment events.
The issue was brought up once again at this week’s government press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister in Castries.
Quizzed on the debate Sports Minister Kenson Casimir reverted to his original position that made clear he was not in favour of utilizing local sporting facilities to host entertainment events particularly at the expense of local athletes. “You know I don’t want anything but sports on a sports facility, that’s my position, that’s what I believe. If at the end of the day we have those sports facilities being used in a very expedited fashion, {we need to} get it back to usability for all the programs that we have for sports.”
The minister is convinced that there is more to be accomplished even while quite a bit has been realized. “We have seen a lot of effort since I made my pronouncement and got slaughtered and dragged through social media and elsewhere. We’ve seen the concerted effort to do this more, but I believe at the end of the day we can do more. We saw damages on the Soufriere Mini Stadium.
Of course, the organizers will say that they have their contingency to bring it back up to par. It is still early days so we will see how that works out.”
The facilities which are usually in the heart of the conversation include The Darren Sammy Cricket Ground, The SAB facility at Vigie and the Mindoo Phillip Park in Marchand.
In the past the SAB facility has experienced closure for sporting activities for more than half of the year.
Some have argued that local sporting facilities must be multi-use venues to accommodate both sports and entertainment. Others are insistent that other venues need to be identified for entertainment to alleviate the stress on sporting facilities and the inevitable disruptions that ensue following ventures of a non-sporting nature.