As festival season begins, people are once again talking about the use of Saint Lucia’s sports venues for entertainment events. At Monday’s pre-Cabinet press briefing, journalists brought up the topic, and Ministers Dr Ernest Hilaire and Kenson Casimir gave different responses.

This issue frequently arises during Jazz and Carnival seasons due to limited recreational space on the island. As a result, most venues in Saint Lucia serve multiple purposes, increasing strain on facilities already in need of repair.

Minister Casimir, in his second term as Minister for Youth Development and Sports, reiterated his belief that sports venues should be reserved exclusively for sports. He cited recent issues at one of the island’s leading facilities as an example.

Casimir, now in his second tenure as Minister for Youth Development and Sports, reiterated his personal stance that sports venues should be reserved for sporting activities, citing recent challenges at one of the island’s premier facilities. – Government of Saint Lucia

“I believe personally, and I’ve said this, this has been the conviction from my heart and mind… I don’t want anything but sports at a sports facility. That’s my position. That’s what I believe,” he said.

“If at the end of the day we have those sports facilities being used in a very expedited fashion, get it back to usability for all the programmes that we have for sports. That’s my position. We have seen a lot of effort since I made my pronouncement and got slaughtered and dragged through social media and elsewhere. We’ve seen the concerted effort to do this more, but I believe, at the end of the day, we can do more.

“We saw damage to the Soufriere Mini Stadium. Of course, the organisers will see that they have the contingency to bring it back up to par. It’s still early days, so we’ll see how that works out. But I believe until we understand what sports is doing for this nation, we [will] continue to have these issues.”

Around the world, it’s common for sports venues to also host other events. Dr Ernest Hilaire, who was permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education and Sports when Daren Sammy Cricket Ground was built, thinks this can work in Saint Lucia with proper management.

The concept of shared spaces is not foreign in the world of sports. Many major global sports venues double as event centres. Dr Ernest Hilaire believes that this can be Saint Lucia’s reality if the venues are managed properly. – Government of Saint Lucia

“I believe as a small island state, we have limited facilities, that is the truth. And it comes down to a question of management. How do we manage the use?” he said. “You want surfaces that you can use for multiple purposes, and it takes very little to restore them. And that’s just what we have to do.

“We actually designed the DSCG for the purposes of concerts. The northern stands are shaped like an amphitheatre; two huge northern stands. We didn’t build a huge southern stand, we didn’t build a huge western stand. We built two northern stands with corporate boxes to the top. If you look at the shape of it, it was designed in an amphitheatre style, to allow us to have concerts there. So persons can rent boxes at the top, looking down at a stage.

“We do not have the resources for every community to have a cricket field, a football field, and an entertainment venue of that size that can host 6,000 people, like in Soufriere. As a country, we just cannot. When your venue is for the international level, you become a little more circumspect how you use it, especially if you have sporting events right after. You don’t want to destroy it, and you cannot host events.

“But you have to be a little open-minded, and you have to invest in a facility where it has versatility, so it allows you to have multiple events with minimal damage and disruption.”

Hilaire noted that a single entertainment venue for all big events is not feasible, and using multiple venues for different purposes is the most practical solution.

“What are you going to do? Spend $20 million on an entertainment venue in Castries, and when Dennery wants an event, everybody must go to Castries? In other words, you have to build a Dennery field in a way where it allows you to have mass crowd events there, and that’s my thinking on it. So I agree we need to be very respectful of athletes and sporting use, but we also have to understand we don’t have the resources to have dedicated facilities.”

As Saint Lucia’s entertainment and sports industries grow, the debate about how to use these facilities continues.