~ Calypso back in full force ~
PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) closed its general registration for Carnival 2022 on December 1 and expressed excitement over the eagerness of the public and stakeholders to return and participate in Carnival after a two year hiatus due to the Coronavirus.
The foundation opened registration in June to give its regular stakeholders and possible new participants enough time to consider their participation after it had laid out its plans for Carnival 2022, included its extensive health and safety plans. “From the beginning we sensed that excitement was high and hoped that this would translate into good registration numbers for the various events. Needless to say we are extremely happy with the numbers we have gotten under the circumstances,” President of the SCDF Alston Lourens said.
At the close of registration the SCDF has registered for participation: 22 Calypsonians, 21 pageant participants, 11 bands, 10 road march competitors and 13 troupes/individual for the Grand Carnival Parade. As usual the registration for the parade will remain open until February 1, 2022. The queen pageant participants can be broken don as follows: 3 for the Junior Pageant, 7 for the Teen Pageant, 4 for the Senior Pageant and 7 for the Ms. Mature Pageant.
As announced previously, the registration process for Carnival Season passes remains open until January 1, 2022. The SCDF also has a full complement of booth holders registered and all international nights have also been awarded to promoters. The foundation made special mention of the new Soualiga KaisoAssociation (SKA) and its efforts to ensure that Calypso would be back in full force for Carnival 2022.
According to Lourens, the preparation for Carnival now moves into its full organizational phase of putting the shows together for what he anticipates will be an epic return of St. Maarten’s largest event. “I am very proud of the resilience shown by the volunteers of this foundation and our stakeholders who have been going through so much adversity brought on by the pandemic. This bounce back is very encouraging and the interest in the country’s most significant cultural event is at an all-time high,” Lourens said.
“We will now be busy putting the shows together, setting up rehearsals, the queen contestants will be revealed soon and the individual promoters will be coming with their announcements as well. We are beyond excited to get this fete going,” Lourensconcluded.
