PHILIPSBURG:— It is that time of year when we celebrate one of the largest cultural festivals in our calendar of activities. Each year, we look forward to this celebration, which showcases our culture, creativity, diverse foods and drinks, and is one of the economic drivers within our community—all this amidst the usual “bacchanal” one associates with Carnival. It is a shared culture within our region; however, St. Maarten Carnival is always special.
As Prime Minister and elected member of Parliament of St. Maarten, I would like to address the people and visitors of Sweet St. Maarten.
Carnival is a time to come together to enjoy music, eating, drinking, socializing, and mostly creating. It is a time for our orange economy to shine. Our bands, musicians, songwriters, singers, calypsonians, and soca artists create new rhythms and catchy lyrics to make us jam, dance, chip, and sway. The double entendre and clever wit of the calypso, our traditional social commentary, make us laugh or even give us pause to ponder and reflect.
It is a time for costume and float designers to ply their craft, combining fabrics, beads, wire, colors, textures, and natural and recycled materials to create designs to depict what their imagination conjures and the revelers demand. Talent is displayed by young and old, whether in pageantry, calypso and soca competitions, road marches, or band clashes. Many look forward to the creativity of our cultural dishes and drinks, where the taste buds are tempted, and you can find whatever you desire during the weeks of fettin’.
Today, as this journey commences, let us pledge to be safe amid the festivities. Let us look out for one another and have good, clean fun. I implore parents to ensure the safety of their children throughout these proceedings by ensuring proper child care when they venture out and ensuring that their underage children are not unsupervised in public or attending adult-oriented shows. Our laws specifically mention 15 years and older, and as parents, you have to ensure they don’t attend. Promoters and event hosts are also encouraged to do their due diligence to safeguard the innocence of our youth for as long as possible (NO underage drinking) while ensuring proper security and safety protocols aimed at the prevention of any situation that could endanger the lives of others.
To read more: https://smn-news.com/index.php/st-maarten-st-martin-news/45030-carnival-2024-a-message-from-pm-s-jacobs.html
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