Poor QPS turnout for kiddies mas

Despite advertising and marketing the 2014 T&T Red Cross Society Children’s Carnival, the competition did not attract a sellout crowd at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.

Addressing the turnout yesterday, society member Vindra Amar said the event is supported by the same patrons each year, as they have not been seeing new faces in the Grand Stand. She said she believes the society needs to do more marketing in 2015 to bring out a new batch of spectators.

Amar disagreed, however, that children’s Carnival was dying, since there were 304 entrants vying for top prizes yesterday.

Amar could not say how many of the 2,000 adult and 1,200 children tickets printed for the event were sold, but admitted that the turnout was “discouraging” because they had marketed and advertised it for several weeks. 

She said tireless hours were also spent organising the competition to make it one of the cleanest children’s event for the season.

“We did not select any wine and jam calypsoes for the children to parade in their costumes on stage.”

Sponsorship too, Amar said, was also dwindling. She appealed to the Government to partner with them.

The money raised from ticket sales, Amar said, will go towards the purchase of 14,000 solar lanterns for homes without electricity. This will allow children to study in a more comfortable environment, Amar said. 

The competition featured several categories, from babes-in-arms up to large bands. A Junior Carnival King and Queen were also crowned.