By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 18, 2022 – Following a reception held at the St. Regis Hotel in downtown D.C. on Friday night, The Bahamas’ 49th Independence Anniversary celebrations in the Washington, D.C. continued with a picnic on Saturday, July 16, at Rock Creek Park, Picnic Grove #6, in DC.
Sponsored by the Bahamian-American Association of the Washington Mid-Atlantic Region (BAAWMAR), the picnic became one of the highlights of The Bahamas’ independence anniversary celebrations several years ago when it was held on the spacious grounds of the United States Coast Guard Base in Alexandria, Virginia.
At the time, two of the principal organizers were Nicanor E. Davidson and Bernard Colebrook, Bahamians who were both former members of the United States Military. As a result of their military service, they were able to get permission to hold the picnic at the military base.
Davidson, who was President of the Bahamian-American Association of the Washington Metropolitan Area, was a former U.S. Army Aviator, and he gave credit to Colebrook, a retired United States Marine, for getting him involved in The Bahamas independence celebrations.
“I had sought to get involved in Bahamian cultural activities ever since being assigned to the DC area with the military in 1994,” Davidson said in an interview I conducted with him for a BAHAMIANS IN THE DIASPORA feature I published on The Bahamas Embassy’s website when I was Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager at the Embassy for four-plus years before the Free National Movement (FNM) took over the government of The Bahamas in May of 2017.
“I met Bernie at a Bahamian Independence event back in the 90s and have always seen him as trying to do something to lift up The Bahamas in this area,” Davidson said. “He is absolutely tireless in these efforts.”
As I noted in that BAHAMIANS IN THE DIASPORA feature, “Davidson was born in Nassau in a tiny house in Rupert Dean Lane, between Meadow Street and Ferguson Street, in Bain Town and attended Woodcock Primary School. At age 11, he moved with his family to Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1971, and joined the US Army in September 1978, retiring officially after 21 years, on February 1, 2000.”
Although Davidson and Colebrook were two of the principal organizers of the annual picnic for several years, the event was actually coordinated by a group of Bahamians in the diaspora, who arranged for various members to donate food or cash to make it the success it has been over the years.
They subsequently organized themselves as the Bahamian-American Association of the Washington Mid-Atlantic Region (BAAWMAR) to continue sponsoring the annual independence anniversary picnic and other activities for Bahamians in the diaspora.
His Excellency Wendall Jones, the recently appointed Bahamas Ambassador to the United States, who delivered a powerful address at Friday night’s independence reception, and Bahamas Consul General to D.C. Patrick Adderley joined Bahamians in the diaspora in enjoying the Bahamian-style cookout at the picnic.
NOTE: The photos accompanying this article were provided by Mikhail Bullard, Minister Counsellor/Alternate Representative at the Permanent Mission of The Bahamas to OAS.
