Downtown Carnival deemed a success

FORMER Mayor Murchison Brown said despite some reports, there was a successful turnout for Downtown Carnival. He was speaking yesterday at a media conference held at City Hall, Port of Spain.

Brown, National Carnival Commission coordinator for the north west region, said it was a very successful Downtown Carnival for 2018 and he was taken aback by a newspaper article about a low turnout at the site.

“I was wondering where I was. There was a consistent flow of bands and masqueraders.”

He said Carnival Monday was even better than Tuesday and all the large bands came in very early.

“Downtown Carnival celebrations keeps getting better year after year. It keeps improving.”

He said the comments from visitors was that they thoroughly enjoyed Downtown Carnival and many preferred it to Queen’s Park Savannah.

Port of Spain Mayor Joel Martinez congratulated chairman of the Downtown Carnival Committee Wendell Stephens for a well-run, very safe and enjoyable event and everyone involved in the planning and presentation.

Stephens said the Downtown stand has a capacity of 1,200 and for most of Tuesday it was at full capacity.

“It is possibly the most secure venue in Carnival and most convenient.”

Stephens gave thanks for the sponsorship adding that with the economic downturn their subventions were cut. He said the National Lotteries Control Board came in to rescue them with a very generous contribution after the intervention of Martinez. Stephens added it was not too late to assist them with sponsorship as they still have prize giving in a couple months.

Martinez said the stand was full although they thought people would have stayed away due to the security threat.

He took the opportunity to thank the St John’s ambulance team and REACT who were able to deal with a couple incidents including two moko jumbies that fell. Martinez reported one of the moko jumbies was more seriously hurt than the other and he was taken to hospital quickly and was in good shape. There were also incidents of people fainting do the excessive heat.

He said the engineering team did a good job of cleaning and yesterday people did not notice Carnival had happened.

On the parade, he said the standard of mas was very high and there was a lot of creativity, a lot of traditional mas and a flow of mas.

He added he was glad to see the return of masman Peter Minshall with Exodus. He described the level of costuming as amazing with fabric, wings and fantastic colours.

“The majority were beautifully dressed. A couple took it to the extreme.”

He complimented Renegades for winning the Panorama finals and pointed out Councillor Clint Baptiste was a band member.