This young
reveller gets into the spirit of Junior Carnival which marched from Marketplace on Constant Spring Road to Cinema II, New Kingston on Saturday. By George Jude,
Freelance Writer
THE LARGE amount of trash, mostly paper plates and cups, strewn all over the Raiders mas camp on 1C Oxford Road, Kingston at 8:00 a.m. Saturday, was an unlikely end to the all-night Friday j'ouvert party and street parade.
At 1:00 a.m. there was a small crowd, with sound and lighting checks being carried out.
Nearby, at Liguanea Park, the Jokers Wild j'ouvert crowd filled the park, throwing their rags in the air, as speakers belched thousands of watts of soca power from Barbadian band Square One. Digicel, a major sponsor of Carnival this year, had positioned itself securely on the lawns back stage feting customers, staff and well wishers.
But the long wait at the Raiders camp gave way to a bigger and better j'ouvert than last year, according to a number of revellers. Random stains of paint in a kaleidoscope of colours marked the route from Oxford Road, up Knutsford Boulevard onto Hope Road and down Lady Musgrave Road to the Oxford Road mas camp for the 8:00 a.m. breakfast.
Several well known Jamaicans from the public and private sector participated and expressed their support for Carnival. Among them was Fay Sylvester, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Technology, who said her daughter Dr. Margaret Sylvester-Reid was one of the conceputalisers of Raiders j'ouvert six years ago.
According to her: "People have misconceptions about Carnival but its clean fun. I like, in particular, the fusion of soca, reggae and dancehall. This needs to be encouraged."
Businessman Deepak Vaswani, described Carnival as "one big happy feeling going non stop. It is beautiful to have the two countries fusing music and bringing unity in the Caribbean...this is really good as they have so much in common."
Self-styled 'retired Carnival exponent' and businessman Garth Moodie was in a very happy mood. He said: "Carnival has finally matured. I was there in the beginning and I'm happy to see what it has done to and for Jamaica and Kingston in particular. It has brought some sort of a tourism product to Kingston and created a season which we never had before."
Mr. Moodie went on to say he was glad Carnival had reached its present stage of development and acceptance and people were loving it.
Dane Lee, entrepreneur from Linstead, expressed some strong views on the event.
"I noticed the quality of the mas camp services have fallen significantly," he said. And he noted that while security and parking had improved, "what was happening inside has failed Carnival revellers. The same music is being played over and over," he noted, adding, "Carnival has been fluctuating with some exceedingly good years and, at other times, a whitewash version of those years."
