OT­TO CAR­RING­TON

Se­nior Re­porter

ot­to.car­ring­ton@cnc3.co.tt

The Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah shim­mered with colour, cre­ativ­i­ty and child­hood pride yes­ter­day as the Red Cross Chil­dren’s Car­ni­val marked its 70th an­niver­sary, de­liv­er­ing what or­gan­is­ers de­scribed as the truest form of mas — imag­i­na­tive, com­mu­ni­ty-dri­ven and root­ed in pur­pose.

More than 3,000 chil­dren crossed the Sa­van­nah stage in a spec­ta­cle of hand­craft­ed cos­tumes, draw­ing ap­plause from par­ents, artistes and pho­tog­ra­phers who gath­ered to wit­ness what Red Cross Chil­dren’s Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee Chair­man Ronald Halfhide called “the re­al mas be­fore the big mas.”

Bands of chil­dren, some bare­ly tall enough to see over the edge of the stage, crossed in waves of hand­craft­ed splen­dour — vi­brant fab­rics, tow­er­ing head­pieces and metic­u­lous de­tail­ing that drew cheers from par­ents, pho­tog­ra­phers and vet­er­an mas mak­ers alike.

“This is the re­al mas be­fore the big mas,” said Red Cross Chil­dren’s Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee chair­man Ronald Halfhide, watch­ing in­tent­ly from the side­lines. “Mas with a pur­pose. We all know what the adult mas has be­come, so peo­ple come here to see mas in its purest form.”

Halfhide re­flect­ed on the ori­gins of the event, which be­gan in 1956 as a fundrais­er launched by La­dy Beetham for the lo­cal arm of the Red Cross.

“If you know the his­to­ry of Red Cross Chil­dren’s Car­ni­val, it start­ed by La­dy Beetham,” he said. “The name Beetham High­way should be syn­ony­mous with it. Sev­en­ty years lat­er, we are still rais­ing funds for the Red Cross. That alone tells you the strength of this tra­di­tion.”

This year’s an­niver­sary edi­tion al­so record­ed a mile­stone of its own, with a record num­ber of en­tries.

“We had a record en­try, which was a lit­tle scary for the judges,” Halfhide ad­mit­ted. “We’re talk­ing over 3,000 chil­dren cross­ing the stage here to­day (Sat­ur­day). That’s a se­ri­ous re­spon­si­bil­i­ty.”

“With the help of the Women’s Po­lice and the Army, we have to keep them safe,” Halfhide said. “We are re­spon­si­ble for 3,000 chil­dren, and we take that re­spon­si­bil­i­ty very se­ri­ous­ly.”

De­spite on­go­ing eco­nom­ic chal­lenges, Halfhide said the stan­dard of cos­tumes sur­passed ex­pec­ta­tions.

“Per­son­al­ly, we were wor­ried about the qual­i­ty of mas be­cause peo­ple don’t have mon­ey,” he said. “But what we’re see­ing here to­day has sur­passed what you’ve seen in re­cent years. The qual­i­ty is ex­cel­lent.”

“For those who don’t know Kid­dy’s Car­ni­val, names like Pe­ter Min­shall and Wayne Berke­ley all start­ed right here,” Halfhide said. “They pre­sent­ed their cos­tumes on this stage. So what you’re see­ing to­day is no dif­fer­ent. This is where ex­cel­lence be­gins.”

While fund­ing re­mains a chal­lenge, Halfhide said the ab­sence of large cash prizes has, in some ways, re­stored Car­ni­val’s heart.

“Be­fore, it wasn’t a prob­lem to get cash prizes,” he said. “Now, what warms my heart is see­ing small busi­ness­es, fam­i­lies and se­nior cit­i­zens mak­ing do­na­tions. This was their ex­pe­ri­ence. They re­mem­ber com­ing here as chil­dren.”

He lament­ed the shrink­ing Chil­dren’s Car­ni­val cal­en­dar, not­ing that the coun­try has moved from nine events to one main stage show and two pa­rades.

“It’s sad be­cause peo­ple are spend­ing mon­ey and not try­ing to get it back,” he said. “But some­times when I say we have no cash, it might ac­tu­al­ly be a bless­ing.”

“Be­cause what we’re see­ing now,” Halfhide added, “is the true essence of Car­ni­val. Peo­ple mak­ing mas be­cause they love mas. Peo­ple love their chil­dren. Mas cos­tumes and kids go to­geth­er — it’s a mar­riage made in heav­en.”

Look­ing ahead, Halfhide said the com­mit­tee is com­mit­ted to re­build­ing and giv­ing back, with a long-term goal of se­cur­ing an am­bu­lance for the Red Cross by 2027.