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| Homecoming, Tarpum Bay, Back to the Bay Fest 1999 | ||||||
| Back to the Bay Fest is shaping up to be a fabulous event. The DJ is grooving, the band is hot. Native eats and cold drinks galore. Not to mention the friendly exciting chatter, the music and the opportunity to meet that someone you haven?t seen in years. Many new faces mixed with the old, all in the spirit of celebrating their heritage in beautiful scenic Tarpum Bay. Each year they return larger and larger numbers converge on the Bay for a great August monday holiday weekend, how fabulous. Many of my friends abroad have come this year to visit us and see the progress taking place in Tarpum Bay and progress there is. The Tarpum Bay, Back to the Bay committee shows an undying dedication to making the event a sucess and the community better by their efforts. The eventual goal I assume is to build a home to which many Baymen abroad will be happy to return to. This entertainment event suggests a must greater goal than just fun. New self help projects are proposed and under construction, including a new indoor gymnasium large enough to house many indoor events like socials and basketball games etc. They are really working hard and getting much done, although more volunteer help is needed to carry these events and projects through. We here in Tarpum Bay are pleased with the effort thus far. | ||||||
| The spirit of homecoming is not a new one. Generations of our people are spread now in various corners of the globe and have been coming home independently for years. This event, homecoming, which is catching on throughout the Bahamas proves to be a good and timely trend as many of our residents wish to return and dream of the day when they can return permantly to the place we call home. We will log the progress of these events and see firsthand what community organization, which is needed so badly, can do to enhance life in these islands spread so far apart. We are numerous and there is no telling what our individual support can do to enhance life in these communities. We certainly need to strive forward in the effort to build the community, young minds and energy are the key to helping in this regard. How happy they all seem vacationing breifly and strolling about the community greeting old and new alike. Hooray for homecomings, it is a happy time. A time to inject new energy and new hope into our braindrained sometimes quiet town and island. | ||||||
| There are some concerns however. One alarming trend at gatherings such as this are the little youth gang fights that ocassionaly break out and disrupt the spirit of the ocassion. Where the mentality of these young fighters and the motivation which drives them comes from is debatable. Why do we in these pleasant communities need to fight each other, no one knows. Perhaps there is an answer to this problem. We need to be about the business of becoming closer knit as a people, pooling our collective resources and arising from the doldrums of the mind which have held our progress back for years. Lets promote love amongst the generations and not war. War will get us no where. The larger collective love for the growth of the community is� the pleasantry which needs to be accentuated. Thus far our goals toward that� task has largely been fine. We are beginning to see the fruits of that labor here in the community as opportunities and areas of progress noticeable by all are beginning to open up. The accomplishment of the commenige land commitee and the clear title to the parcels of land can be sited as one example, the building of the indoor gymnasium another. With progress like this the rewards far down the road will come and we will see the fruits of our labour which has spun off as an attempt to entertain and draw ourselves back to our community. I look for good things to come out of all of this activity. Upward, onward, forward, together is no empty slogan when realized. Hooray to the community and those who are fighting through homecomings to improve their lives and realize a better tommorow through their volunteer labor and toil. A little optimism goes a long way. | ||||||
| I pray that our homecomings are not marred by past negativety and youth gang fighting. There is a lull experienced however, once these perveyers of good entrigue, the homecomers, leave the community after the holiday and quite naturally so as they take away with them the excitement they brought us. That is a good question to solve, how might� that excitement� remain among us who are left here to live our daily lives? | ||||||
| George Major | ||||||
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