Hibiscus Festival, flaws and all
It was a hit and miss for me this year. I have fond memories of the Hibiscus Festival being the best time of my life and most importantly the highlight of the week was the Queen Contestants.
Yes, the highlight of the festival were the Queen contestants. Not the major sponsors, not the organisers and definitely not the business houses and businessmen who also donate to this worthy cause. Don't get me wrong they are an important component cause they bring the money to the table BUT and a huge BUT, we are missing the mark here by not treating the contestants with more prestige which leads to the loss of the lustre of the mother of all festivals.
This year, I told myself I was going to take a break from chaperoning and just focus on travel. But when the opportunity arose and seeing that this year was the 60th Anniversary, I jumped at it with full #KuiVitiForce hoping to make it a memorable one. I was asked to chaperone Miss Home and Living, Anne Dunn and as it turned out, I picked a winner.
Anne Dunn wearing KuiViti at Hibiscus 2016
Yes there were memorable moments, however, the cons outclassed the pros. Hibiscus used to be the mother of all festivals and it seems like this mother has left the building leaving her position vacant for either the Bula, Sugar, Tebara or even Nasinu festival to take. There was so much focus on the festival reaching its full capacity without including the Belles of the Ball in it.
For instance, every sponsor pays a minimum of $5000 for the charity chest and another $5000 is for the contestant ($2000 is wardrobe allocation and $3000 is administration). Fair enough! But it does not justify the fact that contestants weren't fed well, there wasn't any transport on the first day, visitations were cancelled or just not organised well, there was more publicity on the DMax promotion rather than on the contestants as per custom in previous years, wardrobe money was issued late (a week before the festival for some), lack of security at the hotel and at the festival grounds to name a few.
Aside from that, there were a few protocol issues that stuck out (like a sore thumb) for me. Why is it that we are the only pageant that has every man and his dog on stage for the crowning process? Again I stress that the weeklong event was about the contestants. Contestants who worked so hard during the weeklong event and dressed up so well during crowning night only to stand behind the Chief Guests. As a designer, I did not put my time and effort into designing a crowning night outfit and envisioned it on stage only to have it blocked by a chair and the glaring obvious undertone of subservience that screams 'thanks for your effort ladies, now go and stand behind the men and look pretty'
We really didn't need the entourage at the back ruining the aesthetics of what was happening at the front which was a beautiful moment of the sister of the sash handing over the reign!
I thank God that my contestant won the Miss Hibiscus 2016 title and got her that much deserved moment. However, it was shortlived because as she sat down to be crowned, the Chief Guest, along with the Chairman for the Hibiscus Event Group gathered around her Hibiscus throne in their matching bula shirts ruining the perfect pageant coronation moment.
I remember when Letila Mitchell was crowned by the Late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. Yes it wasn't the usual crowning protocol but I guess if you were the President of the Fiji Islands, you outrank the crown and on that night and pictures can prove that it was only the late President Ratu Mara and Letila present on that stage giving it a very memorable and majestic moment.
Simplicity evokes class and prestige from the masi 'red carpet' to the authenticity of the crowning moment
This was the 60th Anniversary and we had one former Queen Lenora Qereqeretabua MCing, and the same can be said for the cocktail where we had only 2 former Queens in attendance. We missed the opportunity to make this year a grand slam. All we had to show for it were some 'Bula' shirts with the 60th Anniversary monogram embroidered at the front.
To quote a dear friend of mine who was looking around the Gymnasium on the Crowning Cocktail night "My, how the standards have fallen, I just saw a picture of Ranadi Johnston on my FB feed where she was holding a glass of champagne at the Hibiscus Ball at the Travelodge, we went from class to the ghetto"
Right, rant over I don't know what, how and when but HEGI has to do better. They need to look at themselves and do an internal audit of how the festival runs. Vodafone as major sponsors should be asking hard questions about how the festival is run because bottom line it's their name.
Here's to hoping the 61st Hibiscus Festival fares better.
xoxo Mariposa
