Sascha Wil­son

Se­nior Re­porter

sascha.wil­son@guardian.co.tt

Mas char­ac­ters, so­ca mu­sic, and vi­brant colours filled Princes Town as the Car­ni­val Roots and Cul­tur­al Com­mit­tee of­fi­cial­ly launched Car­ni­val in the dis­trict yes­ter­day.

Chair­man Ale­sia Dy­er-Stoute said the com­mit­tee is com­mit­ted to re­viv­ing the town’s rich cul­tur­al her­itage and bring­ing the com­mu­ni­ty to­geth­er through­out the year.

She said, “Our group is not on­ly fo­cused on Car­ni­val. We al­so work through­out the year for In­de­pen­dence and Eman­ci­pa­tion events. It is a cul­tur­al group, so we are work­ing to­geth­er to bring the com­mu­ni­ty to­geth­er for all events through­out the year.”

She in­vit­ed bands, mas­quer­aders, ca­lyp­so­ni­ans, and so­ca artistes to reg­is­ter with them for next year’s events via their so­cial me­dia plat­forms. She al­so en­cour­aged lo­cal res­i­dents and busi­ness­es to sup­port the ini­tia­tive and wel­comed spon­sor­ship.

Dy­er-Stoute said, “We want to bring Car­ni­val back to life in Princes Town,” adding that they plan to host var­i­ous ca­lyp­so com­pe­ti­tions, tents, and oth­er events in the lead-up to Car­ni­val.

In ad­di­tion to J’Ou­vert, she said they al­so want to hold the pa­rade of bands on Car­ni­val Tues­day. “We want to bring back the art,” she ex­plained. “I want peo­ple to know they don’t have to leave Princes Town… The his­to­ry of Car­ni­val start­ed in Princes Town, Moru­ga, Bar­rack­pore.”

She said the com­mit­tee has al­so host­ed work­shops with young peo­ple, who will have op­por­tu­ni­ties to show­case their tal­ents. While they have reg­is­tered with the Min­istry of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment, she said they have so far been op­er­at­ing out of pock­et and with the as­sis­tance of “one or two busi­ness­peo­ple.” She hopes that more lo­cal cor­po­rate busi­ness­es will sup­port the ef­fort.