PHILIPSBURG:--- The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) will welcome 13 new booth holders for Carnival 2019, Carnival’s 50th Anniversary celebrations. The foundation started the selection process in June this year and on Friday said it is “very happy” with the new culinary experiences that the new booth holders will bring to Carnival Village for Carnival 50.
“All 13 new booth holders have been identified. Our booths are set, we are happy with them and we are ready for Carnival 50,” the SCDF board said.
The foundation over the past few years has begun giving more people an opportunity to operate a booth in Carnival. The amount of registrants for a booth received this year was almost 300 for the 67 booths currently available in the Village.
“It makes no sense to ask the community at large to register for the possibility to operate a booth, if we are not willing to give some of these registrants an opportunity,” the SCDF said. “We want as many people to participate in all aspects Carnival. It is only fair and it is also to Carnival’s benefit it to inject new experiences into the product.”
The registration process for everyone (including persons who operated a booth the previous Carnival season) began in May and closed in June. Registrants indicated what they would offer if they were granted an opportunity to operate the booth. The SCDF then begins the process at looking at each and determines who will be afforded said opportunity.
“We are very happy to note that 13 new people will be part of Carnival in this very special year. We are confident that they will offer new culinary experiences to the visitors of Carnival and maintain Carnival Village as the most unique Carnival venue in the entire Caribbean. We are very proud of the fact that we can involve more people in the festival and look forward to including many more in the future,” the SCDF board said.
