Shas­tri Boodan

Free­lance Con­trib­u­tor

For the first time in al­most a decade, mas­quer­aders will take to a stage on Car­ni­val Mon­day and Tues­day in Ch­agua­nas.

The an­nounce­ment was made joint­ly by Ch­agua­nas May­or Faaiq Mo­hammed and Melis­sa Jadoo­nanan, chair­man of the Ch­agua­nas Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee and deputy may­or, dur­ing the launch of Ch­agua­nas Car­ni­val 2K26 on Sat­ur­day.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia, Mo­hammed said the stage is ex­pect­ed to cost ap­prox­i­mate­ly $100,000 and will be erect­ed along Ram­saran Street, us­ing funds from sub­ven­tions pro­vid­ed by the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion (NCC). He ex­plained that the new­ly formed Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee had met with band­lead­ers, who for­mal­ly re­quest­ed the ad­di­tion of a stage.

“That’s a ma­jor win for Ch­agua­nas Car­ni­val,” Mo­hammed said. Be­fore this, mas­quer­aders pa­rad­ed along the as­phalt road­way at Ram­saran Street.

Mo­hammed added that he has been work­ing close­ly with the pro­tec­tive ser­vices to en­sure a safe Car­ni­val, not­ing that ad­di­tion­al sup­port will be pro­vid­ed by the Cen­tral Di­vi­sion.

“We will not tol­er­ate any vi­o­lence on the road­way dur­ing Car­ni­val,” he said.

Mo­hammed al­so an­nounced sev­er­al events be­ing in­tro­duced to Ch­agua­nas Car­ni­val for the first time, in­clud­ing stick fight­ing, a King and Queen of the Bands com­pe­ti­tion, and an ex­tem­po com­pe­ti­tion.

Jadoo­nanan said the new com­mit­tee act­ed swift­ly to be­gin prepa­ra­tions and as­sured the pub­lic that Car­ni­val week­end in Ch­agua­nas would be packed with en­ter­tain­ment, start­ing on Fri­day, Feb­ru­ary 13.

She said band­lead­ers were de­light­ed by the in­tro­duc­tion of the stage, not­ing that they had been re­quest­ing one for sev­er­al years.

“Band­lead­ers were close to tears when they ap­pealed for a stage,” she said.

Jadoo­nanan added that she is hope­ful suf­fi­cient fund­ing will be se­cured from the NCC and the pri­vate sec­tor to meet the Car­ni­val bud­get.

“As we gear up for this year’s fes­tiv­i­ties, I in­vite every­one to join us on Ram­saran Street, from Fri­day night straight through to Tues­day, for an ex­hil­a­rat­ing line-up of en­ter­tain­ment,” she said.

“Pre­pare your­selves for an ex­cit­ing mix of events, be­gin­ning with the thrilling spec­ta­cle of stick fight­ing, fol­lowed by the high­ly an­tic­i­pat­ed Kings and Queens com­pe­ti­tion and the elec­tri­fy­ing ex­tem­po. On­ly the best will grace our stage.

“We will al­so host our beloved J’ou­vert, a de­light­ful Kid­dies Car­ni­val, and the grand Pa­rade of the Bands. Each event is de­signed to bring out the true spir­it of Car­ni­val in all of us,” she added.

The launch com­menced prompt­ly at 11 am in Mon­trose and pro­ceed­ed along the Ch­agua­nas Main Road, where en­ter­tain­ers Swap­pi, Mages­tic and Stub­by per­formed to crowds gath­ered along the pave­ments.