There are weekends when Malta seems to be at a standstill, apart from the usual Sunday morning political activities that we have grown accustomed to. Then there are weekends in which Malta seems to be brimming with activity, and people have so many places to visit and are spoilt for choice.
Just take a look at what happened last weekend – there were at least three activities that raised public interest: the festival at Mdina, the open days at the Girgenti Palace and the open weekend at the Aviation Museum.
Given that the activities were spread over two days, and that, after all, the three venues were in close proximity of each other, families and individuals could make it to the three activities without too much trouble. They had all the time they needed to go to Mdina, Girgenti and Ta’ Qali in just one day if they wanted to, let alone two.
But this brings up the subject of whether we should have a national calendar of events so as to avoid the possibility of clashes that could, in a way, have an impact on the success or otherwise of the activities.
The way thing are happening, it seems that each and every organisation acts on its own free will. This is largely because there is really no point of reference. Organisations simply come up with an idea, fix a date and get on with it – they might be lucky to be the only ones organising an event that particular weekend, which means a possibility of attracting a greater number of people, or else they might be unlucky and come up against other activities, which could mean that they will not get the number of people they would be expecting.
If the activity is a fund-raising event in aid of the needy, such as the Girgenti open weekend was, then the risk of not raising as much funds as expected is great if it clashes with other events. And, with all the hard work that is put in to organise such activities, it is a real pity.
The holding of two or more mass activities on the same days or weekends should be avoided as much as possible, as this can affect the turnout, particularly if one activity will be held in Malta and the other in Gozo.
It so happens that on the weekend that the Gozo Ministry will be organising the third edition of the Lejlet Lapsi Notte Gozitana, the Resources and Rural Affairs Ministry has teamed up with the Parliamentary Secretariat for Public Dialogue to sponsor the Earth Garden event, which will be held to mark Environment Day at the Ta’ Qali national park.
It is understandable that the environment activity is not held during the World Environment Week, once this coincides with the European Parliament election. But, surely, another date could have been found for the Ta’ Qali event, considering that the weekend activity in Gozo had been scheduled for the 22-24 May weekend a long time ago simply because it must be held on the feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, as the name of the activity says.
Gozitan businessmen have told this newspaper that they were looking at the Lejlet Lapsi event as a chance to partly make up for the difficult times they are passing through, and the 11 per cent drop in the number of people crossing over to Gozo in the first three months of the year corroborates their concern.
While this could just be a case of dates getting mixed up, it could also be interpreted as an attempt to undermine the Gozo activity – at least this is what some Gozitan businessmen are thinking. To be fair, the government is not the organiser of the Ta’ Qali event – it is just a part sponsor through the ministry and parliamentary secretariat.
But such mishaps – and any misinterpretations, so common when politicians with the same ambitions are involved – would be avoided if the calendar of events existed and is available to one and all.