With the dates for Carnival already released in early January, the St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) released its colorful Carnival calendar of events over the weekend.
The design and printing of the calendar was financed by Scotiabank as a continuation of its annual contribution to Carnival on St. Maarten for over a decade. Scotiabank also financed the new uniform shirts for the member of the SCDF. The calendar was designed by Cleon Frederick of So Contagious Studios.
The Carnival 2011 calendar features all pre-Carnival events in March as well as the events to take place inside of Carnival Village once it officially opens on April 25 to signal the start of Carnival. "But the season and the hype is already underway," President of the SCDF Stuart Johnson said.
He said the calendar depicts the energy and fun of Carnival on St. Maarten, "even in a short Carnival season due to how the Easter holidays fall this year," he said. The calendar also points carnival lovers to the SCDF’s website (www.stmaartencarnival.net) as well to its popular Facebook page.
"This is the last step in getting our dates out there. In June 2010 we started with our "Save the Dates" campaign when we announced the starting and ending dates of Carnival 2011. This went out to our marketing representatives all over the world," John said.
"In January 2011 we announced the Carnival events that will take place in March 2011 and April 2011. Now we give the public their calendar. So it was a phased approach and in our opinion even this was a little late. We intend to aim for a much earlier date for next
Carnival but we are very pleased to be able to offer this to the general population now," John said.
Carnival 2011 will feature three international shows which are all mentioned on the calendar; a R&B/Reggae night, a Latin Concert and the "One Love Soca Xplosion" concert. Although no artists are mentioned on the calendar, Johnson explained that the promoters of these nights are responsible for announcing their artists to the public first, unless they give the SCDF the green light to do so on their behalf. "But from all indications, we will have some exciting international acts," John said.
The SCDF has already introduced the contestants for the Miss St. Maarten Senior Carnival Queen Pageant as well as the junior shows and Senior Calypso and Road march show to the public. "Our local shows are our primary focus, plain and simple. We want the residents of St. Maarten to support the talent of St. Maarten," John said.
Johnson went on to thank Managing Director of Scotiabank Elie Bendaly for continuing the tradition of partnering with the SCDF for this very important aspect of Carnival. "Scotia stand by the SCDF every year when it comes to our calendar. We remain very grateful to the bank for being a dependant partner of carnival for so many years," Johnson said.
The calendars will be distributed island wide and is available on the SCDF’s website as well as on its Facebook page (search: St. Maarten Carnival). The calendar can also be emailed if person request this via the SCDF’s official email sxmcarnival@hotmail.com.