Junkanoo Carnival brought the “magic” back to Freeport, Grand Bahama, according to entertainer Freddie Munnings Jr., who boasted yesterday of the economic success of the music festival on the island.

“Grand Bahama was once known as the ‘Magic City’ and the ‘magic’ was brought back because there was tremendous entertainment and tremendous attraction,” Munnings told The Bahama Journal, as he spoke proudly about the April 17 – 18 Junkanoo Carnival in Freeport.

Munnings said the launch of the carnival season in Grand Bahama was a “tremendous success” because the music festival was celebrated in grand style and approximately 10,000 to 12,000 people attended the event over the two-day period.

Also, the economic impact of Grand Bahama’s carnival was tremendous, Munnings added.

“My understanding is that most of the vendors at the event were sold out of all of their food and beverage products,” he said. “We know we could not get rental cars on the island because we made attempts to do so.”

Munnings, who is also a member of the Bahamas Festival Commission, also boasted of the success of the song competition that was narrowed down to ten semi-finalists.

The semi-finalists will be used to catapult the Junkanoo Carnival festival in Nassau on May 7- 9.

In a statement, Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe also expressed the successful economic impact of Grand Bahama’s Junkanoo Carnival, which impacted vendors and persons employed in the tourism industry.

“The pervasive and far reaching economic impact of Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival cannot be understated as companies in industries as diverse as tourism, communications, transportation and events promotions to costume design, printers, artisans and even food vendors are all being positively impacted,” Wilchombe said.

He explained that the “festival has the capacity to catapult the culture industry into a year-round industry and it is only limited by the imagination and entrepreneurial spirit of Bahamians and for those who dare to dream, dream big and think ‘outside of the box.’”

The minister of tourism added that he is confident that Junkanoo Carnival, a cultural institution, is not only an economic stimulus, but it “will grow from strength to strength in years to come as it evolves into an important platform to give birth to the next Paul Mears, Tony Seymour, The Beginning of The End, Smokey OO7, T-Connection and Bahamen.”

By joining forces, The Bahamas can now boast of its own cultural festival, Wilchcombe said, as he encourages Bahamians to “jump in line and get involved.”

“Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival is everybody’s business and it beckons us to heed the call of the late Tyrone ‘Dr. Off’ Fitzgerald to ‘Get Involved,’ ” he added.