Late start for parade

Tired, tardy masqueraders, exhausted after an action-packed weekend in the sister isle, were the cause for the late start of the parade of the bands at Tobago Carnival yesterday.

So said Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Secretary of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation Tasha Burris.

Carded to begin at 9 a.m. the first band did not appear along the Milford Road, Scarborough, parade route until 3 p.m. much to the frustration of hundreds of eagerly waiting spectators.

Burris said after the hectic Carnival schedule, which included Jouvert on Saturday morning and Night Mas on Saturday night, it seems masqueraders were unable to rise early yesterday to meet their respective bands.

“Largely I think the weekend went so well in terms of participation, that literally by the time people reach to today they are so simply tired and the masqueraders reached out late to start the parade.

“I have been on the route since 8.30 this morning, but 3 o’clock this afternoon I saw people now arriving to join their bands. They simply were just tired,” Burris told the Express yesterday.

Just after midday Tobago Wedding characters were seen dancing amongst traditional Carnival characters much to the amusement of locals and small groups of tourists.

A Rastafarian group also appeared along the route waving flags depicting images of Haile Selassie and the Lion of Judah to soca music.

There was however a huge gap of empty roadway after those groups passed. Burris said the conventional mas was supposed to follow the traditional display.

“So what should have happen is we had the first traditional part of the mas coming down on the waterfront and the contemporary Mas should have started soon after that but that didn’t happen it didn’t get off until after one in the afternoon,” Burris said.

Missed proclamation

Burris addressed the absence of police at Friday’s Pan Trinbago event Rhythm, Steel and Powder in Scarborough.

Pan Trinbago president Beverly Ramsey-Moore complained about the non-appearance of police personnel and the unregulated vehicular traffic driving between the bands.

“The problem was proclamation period for Carnival begins on Saturday morning, so that the Friday night event falls outside of the proclamation period. So it was an extra duty for the police.

“Due to some mix up they weren’t able to submit to us on time payment requirements for the extra duty, because if they did we would have paid. In any case, the Pan Trinbago president said it all, this is our national instrument, this is Tobago Carnival and I felt like the officers could have still come out and lent support,” Burris said.

When the Carnival parade eventually got into full flow at 4 p.m. yesterday the energy was undeniably uplifting.

Onlookers joined costumed masqueraders of Zain and Fog Angels mas bands in the streets for unbridled revelry.

Burris said that very energy is exactly what Tobago Carnival is all about.

“Last year I coined a phrase, we wanted the Tobago Carnival to be a spectators spectacle and a masqueraders masquerade meaning we wanted to give the masquerader the best possible experience on the road marrying Tobago’s strengths in terms of our physical environment moving from a waterfront to a highway that feels like it’s between two forests. People know they are partying on an island.

“We wanted to ensure it was not just what we have known carnival to be in terms of the conventional contemporary type depictions of mas but we wanted to create a stage for what is traditional and indigenous to Tobago giving the opportunity for creators to come in the space and utilise Tobago Carnival as a platform to showcase their creativity.

“The Carnival will continue to evolve because the reality is we think as Government we should not own the Carnival that we should really quickly step into the role of facilitator and sponsor rather than owner,” Burris concluded.

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