Carnival organisers meet partners to make this year’s event even better |18 February 2012

The meeting in progress

A meeting was held at the International Conference Centre where representatives of a number of organisations, companies, businesses and other local bodies met the Seychelles Tourism Board’s chief executive Alain St Ange, his deputy Elsia Grandcourt and event coordinators.

Present were envoys from Le Méridien Barbarons, Jj Spirit Foundation, Indian Ocean Tuna Limited, Seychelles Fishing Authority, Hunt Deltel, The University of Seychelles and many more, with the organisers saying there will be around 70 floats this year.

Those present learned that the Bois de Rose Avenue will be closed on midnight Friday March 2 and each float’s place will be clearly demarcated at the starting point. The organisers said the floats will move a bit faster this year, but will have special spots where they will pause slightly and entertain before moving on.

The parade of floats will start at the Bois de Rose Avenue before moving along Francis Rachel Street, Albert Street, in front of the Orion mall on Palm Street, 5th June Avenue and Manglier Street. Some floats will be strategically placed at the Freedom Square after the carnival procession and others will be parked at the New Port car park.

Mr St Ange said there will be special “marshals” to ensure the smooth flow of the procession, making sure there are no gaps and that time is observed at each entertainment stop. 

“There will be public address systems at certain points to entertain the public before the procession starts, and to provide them with information we might have, but these will be shut down when the procession starts since all floats will be parading with their own music systems,” he said.

He added that there will be a wide police presence in town and parents should keep a close eye on their children since it will be easy enough for kids to get lost “in all the excitement”.

Float builders have been asked to take into consideration height and also width of the road, since in last year’s event, several floats became entangled in overhead electricity lines.

Floats were also asked to register the songs they will be using, especially theme songs, to avoid having many of them using the same songs – which might affect them when being judged. Groups who have said they will be composing new songs for the parade have been commended for their effort.

The audience had a variety of queries ranging from judging criteria for the floats to how they could make their input better in this year’s event and both organisers and partners declared themselves satisfied at the end of the meeting.