Kes and Free­town Col­lec­tive will head­line Maple & Mas, an event be­ing host­ed by the Em­bassy of Cana­da in Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Cana­di­an High Com­mis­sion­er Michael Ryan Callan said the cel­e­bra­tion will take place at Green Mead­ows in San­ta Cruz on Oc­to­ber 4, 2025.

The event al­so will fea­ture Nu­trien Sil­ver Stars, as well as a spe­cial per­for­mance by Cana­di­an Hoop Dancer The­land Gard­ner Kic­knosway.

“They are ex­tra­or­di­nary en­ter­tain­ers, tal­ent­ed mu­si­cians and more than that they are about joy and pos­i­tiv­i­ty and bring­ing peo­ple to­geth­er in a con­struc­tive spir­it,” he said.

“It’s no se­cret the world is in a dif­fi­cult spot at the mo­ment; things are chang­ing,” High Com­mis­sion­er Callan ob­served. “In times like this we need to fo­cus on pos­i­tive mes­sag­ing and the af­fec­tions and ties that bind us to­geth­er.”

This year, the Em­bassy de­cid­ed to mark Cana­da Day in a dif­fer­ent way.

“We hear there is a lot of in­ter­est in Cana­da but there aren’t many oc­ca­sions to con­nect with Cana­da,” he ex­plained.

“With the host­ing of Maples & Mas we are throw­ing our arms open wide to in­vite peo­ple to come in.”

Since his ar­rival in Trinidad, High Com­mis­sion­er Callan has al­ready dis­tin­guished him­self with his play­ful so­cial me­dia posts fea­tur­ing lo­cal del­i­ca­cies.

“It’s a dif­fer­ent spir­it here. It is some­thing unique and as good diplo­mats we should be able to em­brace that and go with the cul­ture, even if it shakes us out of the nor­mal way of do­ing busi­ness,” he said.

“I’m not 100 per­cent sure its go­ing to work but that part of the risk of do­ing things,” he added.

The Cana­di­an High Com­mis­sion­er, who ar­rived in the coun­try just be­fore Car­ni­val, said he had just been an ob­serv­er for Carib­ana.

“Be­ing able to be here at the heart of the world Car­ni­val is a very spe­cial ex­pe­ri­ence for a Toron­to boy like my­self,” he said.

“My par­ents were ac­tu­al­ly in town, and we took them to the big stage in the Sa­van­nah and they were blown over,” he re­called. “It felt like peek­ing be­hind the cur­tain to see the where it all orig­i­nates from.”

KES The Band host­ed the his­toric SOS Fest in Toron­to in June this year, at the Bud­weis­er Stage, mark­ing the first time a so­ca act head­lined the venue. The event cel­e­brat­ed Caribbean cul­ture and fea­tured oth­er promi­nent artists like David Rud­der, Tes­sance Chin and Voice.