SAN­DRA L BLOOD

The 22nd edi­tion of the Laven­tille Eman­ci­pa­tion Steel­band Fes­ti­val and Pa­rade host­ed by the Laven­tille Steel­band Fes­ti­val Foun­da­tion (LSFF), takes place in Suc­cess Vil­lage, Laven­tille on Au­gust 3 from 5 pm to mid­night.

Steel­bands rep­re­sent­ing com­mu­ni­ties from Port-of-Spain to San Juan will take part in the pa­rade along the East­ern Main Road in Laven­tille from McAl­lis­ter Street to Leon Street. Each band will briefly stop and per­form at the seat­ed VIP en­clo­sure on the com­pound of Pan­land Steel­pan Fac­to­ry.

Mak­ing their de­but this year will be High­landers Youth Steel Or­ches­tra, while the head­lin­er will be Trinidad All Stars, reign­ing Panora­ma cham­pi­ons.

LSFF chair­man Michael Coop­er, co­or­di­na­tor of the fes­ti­val, said it is shap­ing up to be a big­ger, bet­ter pro­duc­tion af­ter a hia­tus caused by the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic and the can­cel­la­tion of last year’s event.

“This year, it is im­per­a­tive that the event be re-es­tab­lished, and to an even high­er stan­dard as the peo­ple of Laven­tille and the wider pan com­mu­ni­ty ex­pect noth­ing less,” he said.

Not­ing that last year was a sig­nif­i­cant year for the steel­pan when the Unit­ed Na­tions de­clared Au­gust 11 In­ter­na­tion­al Steel­pan Day, Coop­er said this year is an­oth­er to salute as a law was re­cent­ly passed to make it T&T’s na­tion­al in­stru­ment.

“The Laven­tille Steel­band Fes­ti­val Foun­da­tion is ded­i­cat­ed to en­gen­der­ing greater pride and be­long­ing in our com­mu­ni­ty as we com­mit to the theme, Proud to be … Laven­tille,” he said.

The LSFF as hav­ing been formed in 1999 and over the years it has suc­cess­ful­ly pro­duced nu­mer­ous events that at­tract­ed thou­sands of peo­ple each time in­to the com­mu­ni­ties of Laven­tille and en­vi­rons for in­ci­dent-free, se­cure and pos­i­tive ex­pe­ri­ences.

The Foun­da­tion’s man­date is to de­vel­op Laven­tille and its en­vi­rons through events in­volv­ing the 40-plus steel­bands based in those com­mu­ni­ties.

For fur­ther in­for­ma­tion on the 2024 Laven­tille Steel­band Fes­ti­val call 221-7816 or email lsff4pan@gmail.com.