Victoria Park Ready

Carnival City, the Victoria Park, is currently undergoing a facelift at a cost of near half a million dollars.

According to contractor, John Greaves, the VIP and media stand were completely re-furbished to give a more comfortable, new look to the facility.{{more}}

“We had to make decent accommodations, not only for the local media but for the international media. The seating area for VIPs also needed a fresh look, as well as the toilet facilities,” John said.

He noted that leaky roofs were fixed and a fresh coat of paint mainly of the national colours (green, gold and blue) was given to the park. John said other bright colours were used to give a Mardi Gras look to the facility.

The bars for selling refreshments were also re-furbished. The playing field has been levelled off and two new gates were constructed.

John pointed out that one of the gates was to allow mas bands in with ease and the other mainly for heavy trucks such as containers to come in. He however noted that no other vehicles would be allowed in the park without authorisation.

He also highlighted other new facilities: “A new ticket booth was also built. The area in front of the stage on the grounds was re-concreted and extended as a newly paved area to bring patrons closer to the stage without actually going on the field. Now revellers would have a better feel of the action on stage.”

Meanwhile former Housing Minister Julian Francis has expressed satisfaction with the re-construction of the Victoria Park. He noted that contractor John Greaves had so far delivered good work in the first phase of the National Lotteries Authority (NLA) funded refurbishment project. He mentioned that he was impressed with the details of the work and said when the park is cleaned up after construction, the intricacies of the renovations would be more clearly seen.

Francis also expressed confidence that the venue would be ready in time for the pageant, which is expected to draw a large audience. Miss SVG 2005, which would be held on Saturday May 28, is the first of many shows to be held at Victoria Park for the carnival season.

Minister of Tourism and Culture Rene’ Baptiste at a recent press conference had assured the members of Carnival Development Committee (CDC) that they too would have better accommodation when other phases of the project continue.