The ques­tion as to what will be tak­ing place dur­ing the Sand­box Great Fete Week­end in To­ba­go, was an­swered this week af­ter months of spec­u­la­tion. Sand­box En­ter­tain­ment event man­ag­er, Ke­van Gibbs, broke the news ex­clu­sive­ly to the VIBE, about changes to the week­end and who will be the head­line act for the 12th an­niver­sary of the mid­sum­mer get­away. "Giv­ing the peo­ple what they want, when they want it, is our stock in trade, so mak­ing the choice of who would be the head­lin­er at this years event, came easy," said Gibbs. Head­lin­ing the year is the dance­hall lyri­cist Vy­bz Kar­tel, per­haps one of the most talked about en­ter­tain­ers on the dance­hall mu­sic scene.

With sharp wits, easy hu­mour and even sharp­er lyrics, Kar­tel has carved his way in­to the busi­ness from hum­ble be­gin­nings. Gibbs was quick to point out, how­ev­er, that Kar­tel is on­ly one of the head­lin­ers at this year's Sand­box Great Fete Week­end, but re­fused to di­vulge who else was com­ing for this year's event. "All I can say is that the re­gion's top en­ter­tain­ers will be there, from so­ca, pop and dance­hall."

Just in case you've been liv­ing un­der a rock, Vy­bz Kar­tel, born Adid­ja Palmer, is dance­hall's one man car­tel. Kar­tel is a ra­zor-sharp lyri­cist with the type of style, de­liv­ery and dex­ter­i­ty, that made him an in­stant suc­cess and a keen busi­ness­man that has launched sev­er­al suc­cess­ful brands. He rose to promi­nence in 2003 af­ter a string of hits, and to­day is con­sid­ered the num­ber one name in Ja­maican street-life cul­ture and dance­hall mu­sic.

Af­ter split­ting with Boun­ty Killer-led Al­liance in 2006, Kar­tel found­ed the Port­more Em­pire, a fierce­ly tal­ent­ed group of up and com­ing dance­hall dee­jays and singers from his Port­more neigh­bour­hood that he signed to his new­ly found­ed Adid­jahiem/Not­nice Records. Port­more Em­pire mem­bers in­clude Mer­i­tal, Jah Vin­ci, Pop­caan, Gaza Slim and She­ba just to name a few. In 2008, Kar­tel, once again showed his busi­ness savvy when he launched both Street Vy­bz Rum and Dag­gerin' con­doms. He al­so hosts a week­ly dance par­ty, the Street Vy­bz Thurs­day, at the Build­ing, a Kingston night­club which he man­ages with his busi­ness part­ner. Gibbs said that the ad­di­tion of Vy­bz Kar­tel to the mag­ic of the Wet Fete Sat­ur­day was just an­oth­er way of adding val­ue to this year's five-day-week­end.

Par­ty crews should al­so look out for the re­turn of the Last Crew Stand­ing Com­pe­ti­tion on Sun­day night, with a whop­ping prize of $20,000 cash-which will be paid in full, on the spot at Gold­en Star, once the win­ning crew is de­clared at 9am on Eman­ci­pa­tion Mon­day morn­ing. To en­ter the Last Crew Stand­ing, crews must reg­is­ter in ad­vance and at­tend­ed at least three of the pre­vi­ous four nights dur­ing the week­end. The great thing about the Last Crew Stand­ing is that the win­ners could de­cide to ei­ther split-the win­nings be­tween them­selves, give it to a char­i­ty like maybe the Chil­dren's Life Fund or even just give it to one mem­ber of the crew who needs it...ei­ther way, $20,000 can go a long way.

Great Fete Week­end kicks off on Ju­ly 27, with Free Drinks Wednes­day at Gold­en Star in Crown Point, be­fore mov­ing to Pi­geon Point Beach on Thurs­day with a great retro flavour and yet to be an­nounced lo­cal and for­eign artist. Fan­tas­tic So­ca Fri­day is packed with lo­cal en­ter­tain­ers and af­ter par­ty shut­tles to Ply­mouth J'ou­vert on Sat­ur­day morn­ing. Gibbs points out that the stars of Great Fete Week­end are the DJs, the par­ty crews and the pa­trons them­selves. "This is not a come-and-stand-up-and-watch-the-stage type of thing. Is about mu­sic, is about fun, is about the ex­pe­ri­ence," Gibbs said. First edi­tion sea­son pass­es go on sale this week at a first-come, first-served ba­sis at a start­ing price of $450 for all five nights. For tick­et and spon­sor­ship in­for­ma­tion call 788-6409 or 685-8530.

5 nights of fun in To­ba­go

Free Drinks Wednes­day Ju­ly 27 Gold­en Star, Crown Point

Retro Thurs­day Ju­ly 28 Pi­geon Point Beach

Fan­tastik So­ca Fri­day Ju­ly 29 Pi­geon Point Beach

Wet Fete Sat­ur­day Ju­ly 29 Pi­geon Point Beach

Break­fast Par­ty Sun­day Ju­ly 27 Gold­en Star, Crown Point