PHILIPSBURG--More than halfway through the 2022 Carnival season, St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) on Tuesday described the festival as fun, energetic and culturally fantastic, but also a much bigger challenge than it had anticipated against the backdrop of COVID-19.
“Carnival 2022 is by far the most challenging festival we have hosted in the past 10 years, even more so than after [Hurricane – Ed.] Irma,” SCDF said.
After two years of no Carnival, no revenue and entrenched doubt in the community about Carnival, SCDF discovered quickly that the challenge that lay before it would take patience, perseverance and understanding from its stakeholders and sponsors.
“The problem with that is that these same persons and companies obviously went through the pandemic as well, so much had changed for them when it came to Carnival,” SCDF explained. “We have loyal and dedicated sponsors who have done their best to contribute as much as they could to not just the foundation, but to Carnival in general. However, many could not give what they normally would under the circumstances and some couldn’t give at all.”
What this meant, SCDF continued, is a significant financial shortfall that it is trying to manage along with its corporate partners.
“We started Carnival with none of the customary start-up funds. No booth fees, very little season pass revenue and so on. These were committed to operations in 2020 before Carnival was cancelled two weeks before its official start. So, we completely depended on the good will of sponsors who themselves couldn’t give as before. The result is very tall financial challenge,” SCDF said.
Additionally, it explained that persons are still naturally afraid of COVID-19 and this has affected the attendance of some shows significantly. “Make no mistake, people are still very scared and rightfully so. The pandemic isn’t officially over. And although we have to learn to live with it, this doesn’t remove the fear that is keeping folks away from Carnival Village.
“We have our protocols in place, but these too have changed often and at certain moments led to confusion. For example, many booth-holders gave up their booths earlier in the season out of vaccination fears. Others had real trouble finding vaccinated personnel and only secured workers when we relaxed village protocols. The delays were significant and costly,” said SCDF.
It said many sponsors were also late with their planning and support because most only started preparing at the start of April when it looked certain that there indeed would be a Carnival. “Across the board, it is a very difficult year. Stakeholders are doing everything their energy would allow to present the same product that our people have grown accustomed to,” SCDF said.
“This year we have seen more out-of-pocket contributions from stakeholders than ever before. They just want to make the festival happen. Promoters of shows in particular have had to become very creative. Persons see big crowds and pretty things, but the behind-the-scenes challenges in 2022 are significant. SCDF itself is also doing what it can to meet its obligations as much as we could this year while still hosting a world class event.
“We are very proud of the effort being put forward by all involved. We are grateful to the commitment of our corporate partners whom we have had to ask to do a little more even when things are difficult for them, and appreciate the patience extended to us by our contracting services. In the end it’s about Carnival and our culture, which nobody who loves the festival and our culture wants to see harmed in any way.”
