Organizers of the 2019 Carnival Celebrations, “The Real Mas” plan to present a Grand National Parade as part of the official opening of the event next year.
Speaking recently at a press conference, Acting Festival and Events Manager at the DFC, Marva Williams, said it is hoped that the parade will be held on January the 12th.
She said the event will allow overseas patrons, especially those planning to come to Dominica for Carnival, a chance to see the unique offering of Dominica’s Carnival.
“I remembered I had asked a question, ‘What is the purpose of the National Parade and official opening?’ and it was said, it was to entice people to come to Dominica but I figure that the window that we entice people to come to Dominica, the given window, is not sufficient for them to prepare to come, so we decided to present a grand national parade…,” she said.
Williams continued, “That will influence their decision to come to our Carnival and give them a window to plan to come.”
She explained that following the national parade, visitors will have about 3 to 4 weeks to actually plan to come to Dominica and enjoy a week of activities leading into Carnival Monday and Tuesday [March 4th – March 5th].
Meantime, Williams spoke about some of the additional acts that may be added to the Carnival calendar.
“We are looking to bring back a few weeks of the practices. So, probably on 3 or 4 Saturdays after the national parade, there will have different practice sessions,” she stated. “We will invite the Lapo Kabwit; we may have some DJ’s, just to get people hyped.”
She also said that there are plans to bring back some of the national costumes.
Williams thanked the sponsors who have come on board to support Dominica carnival and encouraged others to follow suit.
Usually when nations are making changes to their schedule it’s done a year in advance
which is how many people plan their vacations
but we always seem to lack direction
That’s the idea, giving a snippet of our country’s rich culture to visitors especially those who don’t come off the ship. It this should be continuous though, not only for carnival promotion.
Yeah uh huh. Sure
If everything fails you could always invite the PM wife to come with a few of here female friends to attend in some explicit attire. You know the same they did this year… just maybe step it up a notch!!
I hope this Grand National Parade, exclude depicting our indigenous brothers and sisters in traditional garb and putting them on display, so that tourist can “Gawk at them and snap a few photos in Roseau.” This would be a most dreadful idea that must be sacked, before it has a chance to start working. How about promoting our indigenous community and helping them to establish cooperatives and indigenous designed shops, so that they can sell their wares and earn consistent income from it, while promoting the Nature Isle. Now, that’s an idea working entertaining.
“We are looking to bring back a few weeks of the practices. So, probably on 3 or 4 Saturdays after the national parade, there will have different practice sessions,” she stated. “We will invite the Lapo Kabwit; we may have some DJ’s, just to get people hyped.”
What are these “practices” about?