CASTRIES, Saint Lucia (July 15, 2010) – As carnival celebrations on the island kick into high gear this week, the sights, sounds and creative cultural genius of Saint Lucia’s Carnival will receive major international attention from two sources of the island’s exhilarating cultural mix, Britain and the Francophone Caribbean.
Held under the theme ‘Nothing Sweeter Than Dat,’ Saint Lucia Carnival will be documented by a team of British journalists in addition to those from neighbouring Martinique who began their coverage last month.
This Friday, five journalists from The Birmingham Mail, The Essex Chronicle, RWD magazine, Soca News and Time Out magazine, arrive on island to begin coverage of various Saint Lucia carnival events, including the Calypso Finals on Saturday July 17, the Caribbean Soca Monarch on Sunday July 18, J’ouvert Jump-up on Monday July 19, followed by the two-day street parade of costume bands which culminates on Tuesday, July 20, 2010.
Saint Lucia’s Director of Tourism Louis Lewis says “the visit of our friends from Britain helps to generate important exposure for the island’s cultural heritage from an increasingly important market.”
The journalists, some of whom will actually participate in the street parade with the Royalties Extreme Carnival band, will travel with almost a dozen influential travel agents who will freshen their product knowledge of Saint Lucia during their stay.
Saint Lucia also welcomes the return of Martinique’s national radio and television station, RFO (Radio-Télévision Française d’ Outre-Mer) who began their coverage of Carnival at the start of the season last month.
The RFO team will produce an hour-long documentary on the street parade together with two half-hour shows. Their coverage will trace their departure from Fort-de-France onboard the vessel L’Express Des Iles to their arrival at Port Castries, their interaction with Cultural Development Foundation officials and their actual participation in the Carnival jump-up on Monday and Tuesday.
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