Fancy Dress Festival

[2] The name "Fancy Dress" was used because the Egyaa group, which was made up of fishermen who spoke no English, had a hard time pronouncing the word "masquerade".

Based on the activities of the Nobles, in 1926 the paramount chief of Winneba, Nana Kow Sackey (Ayirebi Acquah III), and his friends formed Egyaa, a second group, at Aboadze, a fishing community.

One of the group's members was enamored of the character of Robin Hood, but accidentally shot the nephew of a priest in the eye with a stray arrow on Christmas Day in 1930.

The tragic mishap led the groups to ban portrayal of that character in the Fancy Dress celebrations by anyone over the age of seven.

A merchant by trade, he imported masks and brass instruments and founded a Fancy Dress group called Red Cross or Number Four.

This group was composed mainly of the town elite, including high school and college youth; prospective members had to pass entrance exams on English language and Ghanaian cultural studies.

Adult members of means paid monthly dues, which funded the importing of costumes and Halloween masks from abroad at year's end.

In reaction to the annoyance of hearing one song played continuously, A. W. Yamoah arranged to provide training in brass instruments for some of his family members.