By: Precious Mills
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Friday 29th October 2021) — Attorney General Vincent Byron Jr., Chairperson of the Disaster Mitigation Council, backed up Carnival Chairperson Shannon Hawley’s push for in-person events for Sugar Mas 50, saying she made a “very powerful and strong case” for such to happen. Speaking at the Prime Minister’s press conference on Thursday 28th October 2021, Byron said: “The chair of the National Carnival Committee came and was very detailed in terms of the type of functions we would like to have, making a very powerful and strong case for us to start having calypso shows and tents shortly. They will be restricted in terms of the numbers who can be in person — again fully vaccinated — but these would be streamlined. A lot of the functions over the next few weeks leading up to carnival will be virtual, with limited numbers of in-person fully vaccinated people, as we had done with CPL. We are still very concerned about street activities and these are still at this point in time still on. Cabinet shortly will be making those determinations as to how far we can go.”
Hawley confirmed that after lengthy negotiations with authorities, the Carnival Committee received clearance for in-person events. She disclosed plans to release a full calendar of Sugar Mas 50 activities the following week, including live events. “Last year for the virtual edition, people were blown away. We had over 750,000 viewers logged on in 2020,” she noted. “This year, what we intend to do is build on that virtual experience” while also incorporating live in-person shows safely and healthily under pandemic conditions. An All-Star Band has also been confirmed as the house band backing all calypsonians for Sugar Mas 50 and beyond, a decision welcomed by former two-time Senior Calypso Monarch De King Astro, who said it will improve the quality of music and significantly reduce change-over time between acts.