No crossing the stage for masqueraders!

This year at Mardi Gras, masqueraders will not cross the stage at Victoria Park, but will parade for the entire day on the streets of Kingstown.

This comes as the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC) has convinced the Mas Bands Association (MBA) to abandon the practice of crossing a stage at Victoria Park to have their costumes judged for the various competitions.

Chair of CDC Ricardo Adams, speaking to SEARCHLIGHT after the media launch of Vincy Mas 2017 on Tuesday, said that the CDC is still fine tuning this innovation, but bands will no longer go the traditional route of crossing a stage at the Victoria Park.

He said that on Carnival Tuesday, bands will be judged when they pass two different points in Kingstown.

“…so, instead of going to [Victoria] Park to line up for judging, they will be judged on the street and we will set up spectator facilities where persons can stand and look at the costumes,” explained Adams.

He said that this is not only a masquerader friendly venture, but it will also benefit the viewing public.

“Let’s say on Tuesday you went into Kingstown and stood up by the post office, you would not see a band until about 2 or 3’ o clock and if you went into Park you will see about 50 to 100 people in there and you would have stayed in there from 10 am to 5 pm. Now with this new format you can see friends on the streets and costumes for the entire day,” said Adams explaining the rationale behind the change.

He said that the Mardi Gras show at Victoria Park, like the Miss Carival show, is experiencing dwindling numbers and to go through all the set up that is needed at Victoria Park for masqueraders to cross the stage for such small a number of spectators does not make sense.(LC)