POND ISLAND, Sint Maarten – The Dominican Roots Foundation has been awarded the contract rights to organize and host “Noche Latina” (Latin Night) for Carnival 2022. The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) announced on Wednesday that after a thorough evaluation of requests, it believes the Dominican Roots Foundation will devote the necessary time, energy and excitement into hosting the event.
After considering whether or not to host the event in 2022, the SCDF decided it simply could not let the popular event off of the Carnival schedule. It then issued a public call for expressions of interest in hosting Latin Night a few months ago, and was pleased with the amount of responses received.
“First we would like to thank all of the persons and entities that expressed interest in hosting Latin Night. We were very happy to see that the show remains popular and not just among the Latin community,” President of the SCDF Alston Lourens said.
“The Latin community is part of us, part of St. Maarten and Latin Night is an important signature event of Carnival. We were very despondent when circumstances prevented us from including it on the 2021 schedule, although Carnival was eventually cancelled. This gave us time to increase our efforts to protect the event.
“The members of the Dominican Roots Foundation impressed us with its proposal, its willingness, high energy and dedication to getting more of the entire Latin community, from different nations, involved in the event. We believe Latin Night will be in good hands,” Lourens added.
President of the Dominican Roots Foundation Milagros de Windt said the foundation is ready and up to the task. “Last year our community was very sad when the Carnival calendar was published without Latin Night. Latinos are part of this island; and Latin Night is an intrinsic part of the Carnival festivities,” she said.
“Of course, we are faced with the reality of the Covid-19 challenges, but we accept the challenge! The Dominican Roots Foundation is working closely with different local Latin communities and entertainers in order to have a real Latin night organized by Latin people. Together, we will select the best choices when it comes to local and international artists taking into consideration the Covid-19 protocols,” she added.
The SCDF urged the entire Latin community to get behind the Dominican Roots Foundation and make Latin Night one to remember.
