Home News New Amsterdam Town Day postponed amid beverage shortage
Amid a shortage of beverages on the regional market, the New Amsterdam Town Council has decided to postpone its Town Day activities that were scheduled for Friday.
The New Amsterdam Town Day activity scheduled for November 2 has been postponed to November 9.
This decision was made by the Town Day Committee which includes the Mayor along with several vendors. The committee decided in light of a shortage of beverages on the market.
Several vendors told the mayor that Banks DIH New Amsterdam Branch is out of stock of certain products that are popular sellers on Town Day. “I know banks don’t have stocks,” a business told the Mayor.
“That is a fact,” the Mayor responded at the meeting.
There are reports that one distributor is only limiting those who have made arrangements to vend on the street during the Town Day road fete, to two cases of beer while supermarkets have inflated the price for certain beverages.
“Banks DIH doesn’t have stocks and many persons rely on the beverage companies to provide that stock so that they can maximise their profits. Now, in our wisdom, we are not saying that we are canceling this weekend,” the Mayor assured.
Meanwhile, Coordinator of the Town Day Committee, Quincy Isaacs pointed out that Banks DIH is the largest sponsor for the Town Day list of activities which spans over two weeks.
He said that many small businesses depend heavenly on them for products during the street fete. He said that the Committee did not want to disenfranchise that company because like all investors they too are seeking to get returns from their investment.
“I spoke with other beverage companies to let them understand the direction that we are taking because they also would have invested big on the road while they may not have invested in the Town Day, they would have invested on the road so as to make the road look better,” Isaacs said while apologising to those who may be adversely affected. “But from our perspective, it is something out of our hands and that we have no control of but we are trying to make the best of the situation,” he added.
While the event has been deferred for one week, the Mayor said it does not mean that those who were planning to come out for the street fete should change their minds.
“We want to treat this weekend as the street fair warm-up, meaning that we are going to come out this weekend to promote what we have in New Amsterdam, those persons with their music systems and so on, we are going to have a Town Day warm-up. We will not go as late as 4:00 am. We are going to save this extended period for next weekend when we will really and truly go into our investment. So, this weekend will be used as a warm-up and also to recoup our investors,” he explained.
According to Mayor McIntosh, Banks DIH has assured them that the needed stocks would be available next week. (G4)