Piarco International Airport will no longer be having a white Christmas as the managers in the Airports Authority have decided to change their display in the atrium.
Yesterday, pictures circulating on social media site Facebook showed a display of a white Christmas scene reminiscent of the North Pole. The display, which was double sided, had polar bears, penguins and a blanket of snow covering miniature wooden cottages.
On the back of the North Pole scene was a creche displaying the nativity scene. However, that image did not draw the public’s attention. The white Christmas display caused uproar among people on social media who were demanding that the décor piece represent a T&T Christmas.
Zola Joseph, corporate communications manager of the authority, told T&T Guardian yesterday that they intended to remove the white Christmas scene and put something that has “more of a local flavour.”
“It was never our intent to offend anyone. We have seen the public outcry and we are respectful of public opinion. We are going to remove the décor this evening (yesterday evening). We will replace it with something more representative of our local culture,” Joseph said.
Explaining the thought process behind the display, she said the idea was to have a Christmas décor that depicted something reflective of the Christmas season, but she acknowledged that they did not execute it properly.
“I believe that we did not do it correctly, so we would like to correct our error. We normally do seasonal décor in the atrium and we understand our social responsibility,” she said.
Joseph said the authority’s contracted decorator would make adjustments to the controversial side of the display. The snow and winter characters would be removed and would be replaced—at no further cost—by other ornaments which would highlight the nature of a T&T Christmas.
“We understand that Piarco is the gateway to T&T, and we must represent our culture. We are planning a bit of parang for the season. We have different things lined up for this evening,” Joseph said.