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St Lucia carnival ten years on |
Written by : Gandolph St Clair
Location : St Lucia
Posted : Jun 17, 2009 : 6:09:46 AM |
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The Caribbean Carnival schedule covers the entire year, from January to December. Retaining the pre-Lenten carnival tradition are Trinidad & Tobago, Dominica, Martinique and Guadeloupe. St. Lucia has positioned its carnival on the third Monday and Tuesday in July, between the long-established Vincy Mas in the first week of the month and the emancipation carnivals of Barbados and Antigua following at the end July / beginning of August. Grenada’s Carnival then follows in mid-August.
In 1999, the first chairman of St. Lucia’s National Carnival Development Committee (NCDC) was Lionel Ellis, and its director Gandolph St. Clair. Under its mandate, the NCDC was comprised of representatives of mas band, steelbands and calypsonian associations, the police force, the Castries City Council, the tourist board, the chamber of commerce, Solid Waste Management, and representatives of community councils.
With a budget of EC$250,000, the NCDC faced the challenge of launching their July Mas as a world-class destination. There was much enthusiasm among the carnivalists, and the sponsors came in droves.
The main sponsor was Piton Beer, BWIA was the Carnival official airline, St. Lucia Distillers Ltd made Carnival Rum, Peter & Company sponsored a motor vehicle for the Calypso Monarch prize, Shell sponsored Panorama, whilst Cimpex Ltd. sponsored Junior Carnival.
The communities of Gros Islet, Vieux Fort, Soufriere, Dennery and Choiseul participated in Jam Time ’99, with keen colour and music, thus providing a platform for Patrika Evence, of Dennery, to be crowned the first July Mas Carnival Queen.
During the first two years of the NCDC, the marketing and promotion of Carnival was the responsibility of the St. Lucia Tourist Board. The participation from the French carnivalists, those from Guadeloupe and Martinique, increased immediately. Linwall James, the last NCDC Chairman, under the theme ‘Together as one in 2001,’ introduced the OECS Soca Monarch in conjunction with the King and Queen of the Bands Competition to become the flagship events of St. Lucia’s Carnival. The festival remains primarily an emancipation celebration.
In April 2002, the Cultural Development Foundation came into existence, with a board of directors under chair Patricia Charles and executive director Gabriel Francis. The new body assumed the responsibility for the broader mandate of St. Lucia’s cultural development. Capitalising on a cultural accord between Trinidad & Tobago and St. Lucia, the first carnival arts workshop was undertaken – this was for the training of judges in the pan, mas and calypso arenas. The Inter Commercial House Calypso was introduced, and has blossomed in a niche for the hopeful pros. Another still apparent feature introduced later the following year was the Square Jam / Mas On the Square.
In 2006, the OECS Soca Monarch became the Caribbean Soca Monarch, attracting participation from 11 Caribbean territories including Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana. The Groovy Soca Monarch was also introduced that year.
In 2007, through the intervention of Hon. Allen Chastanet, Minister of Tourism, St. Lucia’s Carnival was given a badly needed shot in the arm, to the tune of EC$3million over a three year period. The monies were allocated to the development of the carnival product through enhancing the infrastructure, increasing prizes and stepping up marketing and promotion.
In 2009, as the St. Lucia July Carnival celebrates its tenth anniversary, the new Cultural Development Foundation chair and carnival veteran, Milton Branford, and Kennedy Samuel, Executive Director, have the arduous task of convincing the St. Lucian Government to continue the million dollar carnival package initiated by Chastanet, who has become the Santa Claus of St. Lucia’s Carnival.
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