National

Today in History: April 27

Government High School, Black Tuesday and the infamous Fire Festival. See what events took place on this day in history.

Published

12 months ago

April 27, 2023

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Government High School

On this day in Bahamian history, in 1925, the Government High School opened. The Historical Society notes it was originally located on Nassau Court before moving to Poinciana Drive. The Poinciana Drive School would later become the College of The Bahamas and then University of The Bahamas in 2016.

Atlantis

The fast forward to 2012 – Kerzner International Limited announced it sold a 50 percent stake in Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas to Brookfield Asset Management.

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

In 2017 – the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup opened in Nassau. It was the ninth edition of the tournament and the first time that it was held in The Bahamas. It was held over 11 days from April 27th – May 7th. Sixteen teams from six confederations competed in the event.

All games were held at the National Beach Soccer Arena at Malcolm Park. As the host country, The Bahamas was automatically given a spot in the tournament but failed to move past the group stage.
Brazil won the tournament beating Tahiti 6-0 in the final.

Fyre Festival

Also on this day in 2017 – the now infamous Fyre Festival Music Festival organized by American promoter Billy McFarland and American hip-hop artist Ja Rule in Exuma turned into a public relations disaster.

Some attendees paid as much as $12,000 for the entire 2 week event that was advertised as a ‘cultural moment’, but failed to deliver.

McFarland was later sued and arrested on charges of fraud and agreed to forfeit over $26 million.

Black Tuesday

April 27th, 2020 – then Opposition Leader Philip Davis was thrown out of Parliament on the 55th anniversary of Black Tuesday. The then House Speaker Halson Moultrie accused him of “disrespecting” the chair.

The two got into an argument shortly after members passed a resolution to extend the state of emergency to May 30 that year.
The root of the argument came down to how long Mr. Davis was allowed to speak under the provision for members statements.

He also argued that 30 days is too long for the house to adjourn in the absence of parliamentary scrutiny.

Breaking COVID-19 Protocol

And finally, in 2021 – a party promoter who hosted an overcrowded bashment the Sunday before was hit with a $92,000 fine for breaking COVID-19 protocols established in the emergency powers order.