Work to prepare Carnival Village for the official opening of Carnival 2011 is moving at a rapid pace. The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF), its sponsors and booth holders are busy "dressing up" a venue that transforms into the largest outdoor restaurant and entertainment facility in the North Eastern Caribbean.
Booth holders started to move into the Village as of April 16, followed by sponsors who are branding the entire Village with marketing and advertising paraphernalia of their respective companies. SCDF's largest corporate sponsor, United Telecommunications Services (UTS), clearly has the biggest presence in the Village followed by another large corporate sponsor, ILTT (Heineken).
The official opening of Carnival 2011 Carnival Village take place on Monday, April 25. The festivities will start with the traditional opening jump-up which kicks off from a new starting point this year: The Milton Peters College in South Reward. The jump-up will make its way down L.B. Scot Road, Bush Road, over Prins Bernard Bridge, up Walter Nisbeth Road (Pondfill) and then end at the Village. The jump-up starts at 8:00pm and should reach the village at approximately 11:30pm.
Once at the Village, Minister of Culture Rhoda Arrindell is expected to open the Village gates then deliver a short address to the crowd from atop the Village stage. President of the SCDF Stuart Johnson said the members of the SCDF as well as all stakeholders has been working for months to prepare for St. Maarten's largest cultural manifestation.
"Months of hard work, by about 30 volunteers of the SCDF, has gone into preparing for Carnival 2011. It is all about to pay off with what we expect to be a terrific festival," Johnson said. "It will be nine days of big shows, colorful parades, lots of food and pure excitement. We hope the general public will be happy with the Carnival product we have put together with the cooperation of all our stakeholders. We will be fettin' for Carnival 2011," Johnson said.