Fête La Coudre – more than just a fête

Chairman of the Bath Estate Development Committee  Lindsay George has described the village’s upcoming feast-Fête La Coudre as more than just a feast, but a movement towards the future.

Fête La Coudre will be hosted from July 4 to 11, 2010.

George, one of the organizers, said that the week-long event is seen not only as a mere cultural activity, but one of national expression which will assert Bath Estate and Dominica’s culture to the Caribbean and the rest of the world.

Fête La  Coudre has not staged for several years, according to George. The event is planned in three parts under the theme “Reflection, Reunion, and Rebirth.”

“We want Dominica to see Fête La Coudre as an opportunity to express our culture; something to assert our culture to the rest of the Caribbean and to the world because if we don’t stand up for our own identity we will lose ourselves,” George told Dominica News Online.

“This year’s mini theme is going to be “Reflection”. We [are] going to reflect on all what it took to get us to the point that we are, and we are proud of what we’ve accomplished. Next year will be our reunion year, and then the following year will be our rebirth. That’s when we are gonna present a brand new face to the world. So it’s not just we’re gonna ask for sponsors to come about because it’s a feast; we are actually saying its part of how we’re going to redesign our culture in this new age,” the committee’s chairman said.

According to him, the event will bring about the formation of several developmental agencies in the community. This includes a community-based enterprise, which will aid community members obtain funding for  business ventures.

“Fête La Coudre is also going to kick start the Social Empowerment Agency of La Coudre (SEAL), which is going to be an overseer to a community-based enterprise. So we have different people in the Bath Estate community that are interested in doing business, but for some strange reason cannot do it. SEAL is going to oversee that by working with the NDFD [National Development Foundation of Dominica], working with the Basic Needs Trust Find to create an environment for the people in the Bath Estate community to grow business wise,” he explained.

George anticipates that this will instill a sense of pride within the community. He also hopes that the community -initiative will evolve into a national and even regional agency.

“And once we’ve done this we expect this same model to follow into other communities and eventually turn it into a national drive … we can have community spirit empowerment for their community residents. And of course when it comes to the national level we want to see ways that we can take it regional,” George noted.

Recognizing that empowerment starts with the community, George hopes that this empowering of people will extend to the nation and the Caribbean.

There are plans to release a DVD following the feast, which documents the week-long event. Therefore, George encouraged advertisers and sponsors to come aboard.

Plans are also afoot to convert the Fête La Coudre Committee into an association. “There is a reason behind wanting to form an association to demonstrate that we are very serious about it, simply because we took up a challenge from the Dominica Calypso Association to create another cultural peak for calypso during the year,” he added.

Representatives from embassies from different countries including France, Cuba, Latin America and others, along with local cultural groups will be invited to the festivities.

The event will feature a history night, a youth panel discussion on the theme of drugs, crime and youth, games night, official dinner, calypso competition and a band splash. The Bath Estate Committee also plans to invite a foreign artist to perform.

“The idea is to give Dominicans and Bath Estate something to be proud of, to recognize the hard work of the Bath Estate people. Fête La Coudre is just a movement towards the future to protect ourselves in all fronts, protect our culture, and protect our identity, music heritage and economy. So it’s a little bit more than a feast,” George said.

By DNO Correspondent