Dockyard festival scrapped for new attraction

It will be replaced with a new summer series called Royal Naval Nights.

The weekly event — a Harbour Nights for the West End, drew hundreds of visitors to Dockyard on Monday nights.

Replacement

The Chamber of Commerce, which organized the event, wrote to vendors last month in inform them that it no longer received financial support from Government or the West End Development Corporation (WEDCO), its two major sponsors.

Government yesterday confirmed the event had been scrapped, saying it would be replaced by a new series — featuring a combination of cruise ship entertainers and local performers. A Department of Tourism spokesman told the Bermuda Sun: “The traditional Monday evening event ‘Destination Dockyard’ has been rebranded ‘Royal Naval Nights’.

“Organized by the West End Development Corporation and supported by the Bermuda Department of Tourism and Royal Caribbean International, this year’s event will commence on June 27.

Iconic

“Spanning over 18 weeks, ‘Royal Naval Nights’ will be a festival type event with live entertainment comprising both local and cruise ship entertainers, traditional Bermudian vendors, food and drink stalls as well as our ever popular Gombey dancers.

“We are very excited about this event as it will offer our visitors and residents alike a wonderful experience at one of our iconic locales.”

The Chamber of Commerce, which organized the event last year, has published an open letter confirming the demise of Destination Dockyard on its website.

Diane Gordon, executive vice president of the Chamber, wrote: “We are writing to advise you that the event sponsors for Destination Dockyard, West End Development Corporation and the Department of Tourism (DOT), have advised us today that they will not be supporting the Chamber’s annual Destination Dockyard event. 

“Regrettably, we cannot run the event without adequate financial support and therefore we will not be hosting the street festival in 2011.

“We are made to understand that other events have been planned by WEDCO for the West End and we therefore wish to advise you of our decision.

“The Chamber of Commerce will be focusing its efforts on Harbour Nights and other areas of interest so we look forward to working on your behalf in other areas.

Support

“We thank you for your understanding and we will continue to support your efforts in any way we can.”

Harbour Nights will continue, despite cuts in the ferry service. Earlier this week Francis Richardson, director of Marine and Ports, said the  Wednesday night late ferry service would not be affected by the cuts.