New Tobago Carnival body supports move to Scarborough

INTERIM PRESIDENT of the Tobago October Carnival Association (TOCA) Dexter Sandy says the majority of its members are in favour of the move to shift all major activities to the capital city, Scarborough.

“As a group, we deliberated about it and the majority of the association’s members said that they were in agreement with the shift to centralising it in Scarborough,” he told Newsday on Tuesday.

Sandy, leader of Iconic Mas, said last year’s J’ouvert in Crown Point was a logistical nightmare for revellers, spectators and others heading to their workplaces.

“There was a bottleneck and based on that logistic failure last year. Even the police and all echoed it in saying that after the J’ouvert was finished there was gridlock of traffic and other things that occurred in the space. They said that based on the numbers of persons in that space, it was just too much.”

He said Scarborough offered several options for parking as well as entry and exit points.

“You could have the festival centralised, whether it is on the waterfront area and the port and market not literally shut down. There are different advantages with Scarborough.

“So we are saying, it is the second year, let’s try something new and see how it works. If it doesn’t work, then in the third year we can revert. But we as an association are in support of centralising of all the activities in Scarborough for the carnival weekend.”

TOCA issued a statement on Monday outlining its mission and objectives.

Its mission is to “elevate the look and feel of the carnival product in the Tobago space by working together with all mas practitioners, enthusiasts and stakeholders to create another destination carnival to be reckon with. “

TOCA said it is also committed to “nurturing a sense of togetherness and belonging among our members, while working towards another driving force with socio-economic benefits for our space.

“We firmly believe that our collective efforts and working together with the THA we can definitely make a significant impact in the mas industry.”