Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - On Saturday, November 12th, 2016, the St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) held their first press conference, as part of their preparations for the 2017 festivities. During the media information session held at Sheers Restaurant on Front Street, the SCDF outlined some of the many planed activities for the upcoming carnival season for next year. Some of the local promoters were also introduced to the press as well. Next year’s festival will comprise of some thirty (30) days of activities, which will commence from April 17th 2017 through to May 4th, stated president of the SCDF, Alston Lourens. In total, the organization will be hosting six (6) jump ups, four (4) parades, which will also include the Survivors Children’s Balloon parade.
“We are going to stick to the same formats of this year. The children’s parade and the grand parade will take the same route. However, the there will be one judging point for the grand parade, and that will be announced later,†the president of the SCDF told the media on Saturday. This year’s activities will also see the return of the main sponsor for the last five years, the TelEm Group of Companies. As a result of this, SCDF recently signed off on an additional five year contract with the company, and the president of SCDF is elated about the company being the main sponsor once again.
Other sponsors are also coming onboard. According to the president of the organization, they have also inked an agreement with Maduro Travels making them the official travel agency of St. Maarten carnival. The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) will also be bringing back the band clash for next year’s festivities, which had as its winner this year, the XP band. However, the 2017 event will bring together the band clash and the road march, and already, the president of the SCDF is highly anticipating an exciting outdoor event. The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) will be responsible for four (4) events in the Festival Village next year as well. Those are Latin Night, Reggae Night, the DJ Spinoff and the Culture Night.
Also on hand for the press conference were among others, Fernando Clark of Raw Promotions responsible for next year’s calypso competition, Dwayne of XP Band, Tyron Harrigan of Pageant Productions and Andrew Dick of Laugh out Loud Productions.
