Decision on Tobago Mas By Month End

A decision on whether there will be an October Carnival in Tobago will be finalised by the end of this month, Arts and Multiculturalism Minister, Winston “Gypsy” Peters said yesterday. He was speaking at the end of a 90-minute meeting a team from his ministry had with Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Orville London and an assembly team at the Calder Hall Administrative Complex, Tobago. At the meeting the minister presented a proposal for the Tobago Carnival while the THA presented its proposal for an activity.

Peters said while no name had been given for the activity, technical teams have been put in place from “both sides of the spectrum to try to iron out the chinks and to ensure that whatever we propose to use to go forward, whatever name, whatever activity we propose to have will be done” when they meet on April 28. He will then meet with London shortly after in Tobago to finalise the decision of the technocrats. Peters described the meeting as very cordial and professional, adding:

“I think that from the last time to now we have gotten much further in terms of where we should be and by the end of the month we should have some kind of a decision on the way forward.” Peters and London previously met on February 28 to discuss the issue.

London said the meeting was very productive. He added that it was agreed that from a Tobago perspective there was a trough in the tourism sector between early September and the end of November and the THA, the TDC and the Central Government had been working to see how they could treat with that trough to increase visitor arrivals. He said it also was agreed that one of the ways to treat with that trough was to have various types of activities. London said the Tobago sub-committee had indicated there were some concerns, among them the branding of Tobago, the levels of inconvenience and the problems and challenges of security.He said the ministry brought a proposal about the type of Carnival activity it would like to see in Tobago.

Since it was the first time the THA team was seeing the proposal it was decided a joint technical team from the THA and the ministry would meet in Trinidad to see whether there could be a marriage between the proposals and the concerns raised by the assembly. London said coming out of that meeting a decision would be made about an activity. He added: “I think the discussions were quite professional, quite cordial and quite productive and I think we have reached a point where the THA will be in a position very close to making a decision on the issue. “I have a commitment from the minister that outside of the elections we will work together as a team.”

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I really hope we get this Tobago Carnival this year, and that it is planned and executedly properly. I do not want some thrown together affair.

Now that talks are officially underway I wonder how the existing bands will tackle this. Bring your 2K11 costume, pay a lil $500 maybe and jump? Or would they do separate costumes mayb t shirts and shorts? Would they even allow these private bands or instead, would they just have one huge People's Band :S . For me at least I do believe if I take my Amazon costume back on the road I will be naked at the end of the day based on the rate at which it was falling apart. Regardless, I am very interested in this new venture and hope they have more news for us come April 28th!