Sando mas gets off to late start

Bleachers were up, judges were at their judging points and the streets were barricaded in anticipation of a flood of masqueraders, but up to 11 am yesterday, there was still no sight of mas on the streets of San Fernando. Despite getting additional incentives from the Government, bandleaders again failed to attract large numbers of masqueraders, with the exception of Ivan Kallicharan, who had seven sections with more than 1,000 masqueraders, and Dawad Phillip’s We People International.

Chief judge Telesford Henry said the judges came out at 9 am hoping that the bands would have been out early. He said he was disappointed, not just by the late start, but also by the numbers. Acknowledging that San Fernando  Carnival was not growing, Telesford said this was probably because not enough incentives were being given to bandleaders. “People prefer to go to Port-of-Spain where they get more prize money for participating,” he said.

Around 1 pm, Owen Hinds’ band, titled Hats off to Owen Hinds, was still devoid of most masqueraders. Bandleader Wilson Cadet said since Hinds died, the size of the band had dwindled significantly. “We had 2,500 people last year, but this year we only had about 400 people...We started off late,” he said. “What you see here was organised only about one month ago.” King of the Band Inford Joseph also said because of the small number of masqueraders, the band could not compete in the large band category.

Convenor of Carnival  Selwyn “Bonnie” Persad said he had a master plan to promote San Fernando Carnival, but this was hindered by the continued late start of mas. “Kallicharan called us to say they were ready, but they did not cross the stage until two hours later,” he said. Kallicharan’s band, titled We Going Carnival, featured various Carnival destinations, including Spain, England, New Orleans, Brazil, France and Trinidad and Tobago.

It was the first to cross the judging point on High Street. The scanty and disorganised Nation’s People who presented the Gathering of Nations crossed the judging point at 11.20 am. At the Coffee Street judging point, Fireworks Promotions was the first to cross, followed by other small bands. Only a few spectators were seen sitting on the bleachers and some of them said the distance between the judging points was too far for the small number of bands.

“There was poor advertising, so people did not know where they could go to watch...They should also make NAPA the main judging point,” one mas lover said. A total of 16 bands participated in the festival. These included Lionel Jaggessar’s Festival of Nations, Pan Mas Tradition’s Oceanic Wilderness, D Jammerz International’s All Hands on Deck, Tribal’s Fantasy of the Red Pass, House of White Cloud’s Mystic Warriors and House of Gray Eagle who portrayed Oklahoma.