Celebrate Bahamian Day this weekend

I am writing this opinion column to encourage lots of people to attend the Bahamian Day celebration this Sunday afternoon on the SJU tundra. This event first took place at CSB+SJU in 1996. A description of the event from the then Office of Cultural Enrichment said that it was initiated by Bahamian students in order to “highlight aspects of their country and culture.” The event happened a few more times in the years following but then stopped around 2002.

This year, the Archipelago Caribbean Association has decided to bring the event back to campus. This year’s Bahamian Day is in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the independence of The Bahamas. You can stop by to vibe to music from the Campus DJs and play a variety of outdoor games provided by the OLC. I’m told that Chrissy Cooks is making a seafood boil—so look for a flier in the coming days with info on how to place an order.

Okay, I want to share with you all some cool information that we found while researching what past Bahamian Days at CSB+SJU were like. Even though this was only about 25 years ago, it sounds like a totally different era in some ways. Bahamian Day featured poetry readings, fashion shows, skits, aspects of Junkanoo and dances. In 1998, a chef was flown in from The Bahamas to cook for the event. This celebration often took place throughout a day or for a whole weekend.

For the inaugural Bahamian Day, the SJU vice president of student development at that time reached out to The Bahamas Tourist Office in Chicago for help with preparations for the celebration. One of the things the vice president asked for was “assistance in providing a four-day, three-night prize giveaway trip to The Bahamas.”

Within a few days, a hotel in Nassau agreed to provide just that. Thus, there was a state-approved raffle at Bahamian Day into which people could enter themselves for a chance to win this trip for two people, airfare included.

Another neat aspect of this historical Bahamian Days was the method of advertising. Apparently, in 1996, we had a personal school television channel that students could tune into on their TVs, and also a student radio station. I’m curious what sort of content usually ran on these, but all I know for sure is that the Bahamian Student Association used these media to distribute ads for Bahamian Day. I find it’s possible to learn things from the past, so hopefully this brief foray into past Bahamian Days will inspire you all to look afresh at possibilities for what campus life can look like.

The semester is almost over: I hope you all can take some time this weekend to enjoy the outdoors. Last year, it felt like just as it started to be summer weather here, we ran out of time and everyone left. When we got up to the 70s around the time of Easter Break, I thought that meant this year would be different, but the warmth was not lasting. I realized this slower transition means that spring is a real season, though it’s still much shorter than winter and summer. It looks like this weekend’s temperatures will top out in the low 60s.

Let the adventures roll—this is the last weekend on campus. The Bahamian Day celebration will be the perfect pit stop to take during your adventures, or maybe you’ll get caught up in the action and stay for a couple hours.