The First St. Maarten GOLDEN STARS Karaoke Festival that was held at the Celebration Palace on Saturday, October 22, 2011 turned out to be a great success.
Over 425 persons showed up for the Festival and enjoyed a well put together event showcasing the talents of Golden Stars such as Anlucinda Mijdt, Richard Gibson, Godwin Gram, Josianne Flemming, and many many more. Judge Manning who recently celebrated his 51st wedding anniversary sang to his wife a song by Nat King Cole: When I fall in love it will be forever.
Lino Hughes opened the show with his famous: St. Maarten is my Home and the audience joined in with him. He was also the one to close the show with upbeat music.
Two golden stars of the St. Martin Home participated in the Festival and were accompanied by a delegation of 20 persons from the St. Martin Home. Berthe Artsen, who was the first golden star on the line-up, opened the show with the hymn: I come to the garden alone from Jim Reeves, while Mr. Raymond Liburd wowed the crowd with the famous song: I’ll be there before the next tear drop falls.
The crowd got carried away with the dramatic performance by Ruwi Bezina as he sang That’s Amore from Dean Martin. Bobby Otley, well decked out in an impressive cream suit that reminds us of a Hollywood star, sang: He go to go from Elvis Presley as the older generation clapped and shouted reminding us of the Beatles fan club in the 60s. It was Marelva Salmon in her star like performance of Shirley Bassey: "Never, never, never", that sent the crowd calling for a repeat. Marelva came back later in the program with a Papiamentu song that was sung by almost everyone in the audience whether or not they knew the Papiamentu language.
The audience had a great time and wanted more. During the 40 minutes intermission period, several persons in the audience wanted the opportunity to entertain the crowd and the program was extended with guest performances by Bienvenido Richardson, Ketura Brown, Cedric Rey and many more. The audience did not want to leave when the organizers stopped the more than 3 1/2 hour non-stop show at 11:30 p.m.. Another impressive part of the program was the drawing of lots for the many great door prizes, which included a Caribbean cruise, a sandwich grill, an I-pad, and I-phone, dinners for two and many more great prizes.
Apparently, the Festival provided the unique opportunity for friends to meet friends many of whom they had not seen for a while.
The Aging with Grace Foundation wishes to thank all sponsors, all Golden Stars who made the show such a resounding success as well as all persons who came out to the show, including the Honourable Prime Minister of St. Maarten, Mrs. Sarah Wescot-Williams, who took time out of her busy schedule to sing along with the audience until the end of the show.
The general public is requested to look out for another great Aging with Grace event within short.