First Person - The America's Cup is gaining host Bermuda global attention, but the locals have shown on their national holiday that other things are more important to them.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment Band in the Bermuda Day Parade on Front Street, Hamilton. Photo: RNZ / Todd Niall
With bus services reduced on the Bermuda Day Holiday, I took an hour-long walk into downtown Hamilton and witnessed community involvement and passion that the insular world of the America's Cup will struggle to match.
"Good mornin', happy Bermuda Day," came the recurring greeting from hundreds lining the arterial Middle Road, waiting from 8am onwards for the passing of the cycle race and half marathon.
Bermudans - children and grandparents - set up lines of folding picnic chairs near where they lived, waiting to take their part in the day.
Bermudans stake out prime spots along the downtown footpath days in advance of the national holiday, setting up big family kitchens. Photo: RNZ / Todd Niall
Walking down into the waterfront capital, Front Street was lined with pop-up marquees for more than a kilometre along the footpaths. Locals had politely staked claim to their prime spots days early, and set up from 6am like a giant neighbourhood picnic.
"It's a celebration of gettin' together as family, and when I say family, not just our own, but in a wider sense, surrogate families that we adopt," said Pastor Leroy Bean, who had set up chairs and a shelter with a view up Front Street.
The locals stay all day, setting up large trays of potato salad, chicken and sandwiches for their families.
It's a far cry from the hunkered-down atmosphere at the America's Cup Village, a 20-minute ferry ride across the Great Sound from Front Street.
Most of the six teams were huddled indoors, reviewing their progress two days out from the start of the 35th Cup regatta. Practice racing is over, from now on it is for real.
Wallace Robinson and Leroy Bean (right) staked their claim to a footpath space four days before the parade. Photo: RNZ / Todd Niall
Leroy Bean believes Bermuda Day means far more to the locals than sailing's most famous regatta. His view was one I heard several times from black locals, who make up just over half of the British territory's 64,000 population.
"I think it's more for the elitists and for those that seem to have money," he told me, unhappy at the government spending up to $US77 million to secure and stage the event.
"I believe there's a lot of things in Bermuda we can deal with other than allowing $72m to $100m for the America's Cup - social things, infrastructure."
New Zealander Sir Russell Coutts, the chief executive of the cup defender Oracle Team USA, first approached Bermuda to spark interest in their bidding for the hosting rights.
The Bermuda government decided it would boost high-end tourism, which was plateauing, and generate ongoing visits, as well as the community outreach programmes that spin off from the event.
The pastor, and several others I spoke to, were not convinced.
"It might bring some advertising, but the trickle-down effect is not going to reach the average person, it's zoned for certain people," he said.
A young black warehouse worker called Lawrence said the big local orders he had been expecting to see had not happened, and he thought half the population probably opposed the event.
For Bermudans, politics may upstage the cup part-way through, with the opposition Progressive Labour Party planning a vote of no confidence when Parliament resumes on 9 June.
The PLP managed to pass two pieces of legislation against the wishes of the One Bermuda Alliance, and wants to test the mandate of the minority government.
The vote will come just as the field of five cup challengers is narrowed to the final two, to go on to fight for the right to meet Oracle Team USA in the cup match itself.
Which will make the lead story in Bermuda?
Bermuda Day kicked off with a cycle race from one end of the island to another. Photo: RNZ / Todd Niall
