Govt’ scraps changes to Carnival Tuesday route, introduces new route for Opening Parade

The National Festivals Commission has abandoned proposed changes to the route for the carnival Tuesday parade – one of the major events marking the official end of the country’s annual summer festival.
This comes months after the local Mas Makers Association wrote to the commission citing several reasons why it did not support the proposed changes. The association made the argument that there was no shelter on the route in the event of rain; the elderly and differently able would not be properly accommodated and the new route was much longer than the current one.
During a news conference on Thursday, Festivals Minister Daryll Matthew disclosed that while the route for carnival Tuesday will remain the same, the commission will implement a change in the route for T-Shirt mas which coincides with the opening of Carnival on July 27.
The minister said the proposed route will be used as a trial and if successful it will be the chosen route for 2019.
The new route is as follows:  the parade will start on lower Old Parham Road in the vicinity of the T.N. Kirnon Primary School, up Old Parham Road, right onto Johnsons main road, right onto Factory and American Roads, right down onto Factory Road, over the hill that leads to the Mount St. John’s Medical Centre, right onto Independence Avenue, left onto Redcliffe Street, right onto Thames Street, right onto High Street, ending at the Antigua Recreation Grounds.
“That route will allow the mas players an opportunity to revel in greatness in a wider space, gives the spectators multiple viewing opportunities and we are seeking to have temporary viewing stations set up around the route on vacant parcels of land,” the minister said.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)