RHON­DOR DOWLAT

This week­end has been la­belled as SUN­SETWKN (Sun­set week­end)—a new Car­ni­val band launch event host­ed by Tribe.

Sun­set Week­end, ac­cord­ing to Tribe CEO Dean Ackin, is set to trans­form Trinidad as a new des­ti­na­tion week­end.

“In the past, our band launch would have usu­al­ly been held in the third week­end in Ju­ly, where it’s a one-day show­case of cos­tumes for our six bands. But this year, we felt com­ing out of the pan­dem­ic, we want­ed to try some­thing new and in­no­v­a­tive that would plan the way for­ward for Tribe and Sun­set week­end will sup­port the tourism thrust in years to come,” Ackin said.

“This event will be three days with four events,” he added.

The eu­pho­ria Tribe week­end kicks off to­day with Sun­set The­atre, which, ac­cord­ing to Ackin, will be a Broad­way-style grand pro­duc­tion from An­na Street cor­ner on Ari­api­ta Av­enue to end at Adam Smith Square.

To­mor­row morn­ing is Sun Sweat, which is a so­ca-in­fused fit­ness event, fol­lowed by the a night launch, which will show­case one full pro­duc­tion with a dif­fer­ence com­pris­ing all the bands.

The week­end will cul­mi­nate on Sun­day with Tribe’s Last Jam, which will give that Car­ni­val taste in a road ex­pe­ri­ence at the Na­tion­al Sta­di­um.

Tribe cre­ative in­no­va­tor Valmi­ki Ma­haraj said there will be a lot of sur­pris­es in store for the en­tire week­end.

“Tribe has evolved over the years and with this con­cept of fun, eu­pho­ria, with sev­en shows on one av­enue, there will be sur­pris­es in store. The Last Jam will be sure to give that road ex­pe­ri­ence with the chore­og­ra­phy by Brid­gette Wil­son. The fit­ness fete per­for­mance ex­pe­ri­ence with not on­ly so­ca, but we will have dif­fer­ent types of mu­sic, in­clud­ing chut­ney, reg­gae and afro-beats. Fri­day’s event is spon­sored by Carib, Sat­ur­day’s by Sta­mi­na and Sun­day’s by White Oak. We have been lis­ten­ing to the pa­trons’ call for the need of more par­ty and that con­cen­trat­ed mo­ment of ex­cite­ment and eu­pho­ria,” Ma­haraj added.

Ackin re­it­er­at­ed that Tribe’s Sun­set Week­end will “not on­ly be spec­tac­u­lar but how we take Car­ni­val in the fu­ture.”

Fol­low­ing Sun­day’s Last Jam, there will be an af­ter par­ty to en­sure con­tin­ued sup­port for busi­ness­es over the week­end along the Av­enue.

Ackin al­so as­sured that al­though the cost of cos­tume pack­ages are yet to be fi­nalised, they will keep them af­ford­able to the mas play­er.

He said se­cu­ri­ty and safe­ty for this week­end’s events re­main top pri­or­i­ty and dis­cus­sions have been on­go­ing with all stake­hold­ers, in­clud­ing the Po­lice Ser­vice, Fire Ser­vice and the Port-of-Spain May­or’s of­fice, as well as Wood­brook’s res­i­dents.