All outstanding debt to festival vendors from the previous years is said to have been settled.
This is according to the Chairman of the Festival and Fairs Committee Mr. Dirk Walters who made the comment during a recent press conference.
He was responding to a question posed by local media on whether he had plans to settle any of the outstanding debt being endured by festival vendors under previous Committee administrations.
“I am personally not aware of any vendors that are owed. I have only been involved in this myself and the vice chair and our new treasurer since our first task was the Virgin Gorda Easter Festival and as far as I know, we have paid off all of our debts. All the bills have been paid,” Walters stated.
The chairman urged persons with any information that states otherwise to provide it to his committee members so the respective matters can be investigated.
He said, “If there is anything outstanding in terms out there, then that has to be brought to our attention, of course. But any vendors owed previously I can’t speak to, as I know I didn’t sign anything with anyone or any contract or anything. So I can only speak to what I know about.”
The subject of festival vendors being owed by the Festival and Fairs Committee under previous administrations is nothing new.
In 2019, Premier Dr. the Honourable Natalio Wheatley who was the Minister for Culture at the time announced a $1.3 million budget for all 2019 Virgin Islands festivals, which he said was to clear outstanding debts owed to vendors from previous years.