7 News Belize

Mas Camp Mayhem In The Streets
posted (September 5, 2013)
And the mas camp madness continued last night. Here's what Monica Bodden found when she went to the camps:…

Monica Bodden reporting
Day 2 of carnival mas camps and our first stop was right in our neighbourhood at the Black Pearl carnival band.

Dorla Vaughan - Band Leader
"I'm preparing the St. George's Caye day, Independence Day and Carnival Day. The St. George's Caye day with be the white and silver - the Independece day colors, Red, White and Blue and most of all we have the Carnival section which is all color."

Monica Bodden
"So you have how many sections?"

Dorla Vaughan
"I have three sections."

Monica Bodden
"Tell me, how did you come up with this idea?"

Dorla Vaughan
"Well we just sat down and talked about it - we know this year is the 32nd year for the Independence so I said I will give it a try because this is my 25th year in Carnival also. It seems that the sponsors are capturing the senior bands and leaving the kids behind and they are the future of tomorrow. On carnival day - they will see the kids and they will be properly attired, they will not be wearing any skimp clothing."




And for Pickstock carnival band, they are doing it even bigger this year. With over a hundred revellers and 5 costume sections – they plan on highlighting colors beyond the imagination.

Gary Gill - Band Leader
"This is the first we have ever had five sections. Pickstock consists of 102 members strong and for this year our team is - the elements of Nature. We try to do things a little bit different - we decided to go colorful -all the different colors in different sections. Thanks to Mr. Elrington, Belize Waste Control, Belize City Coucil, KHMH, Fantasy 5, Loans to Go, Simon Quan, Joseph and Taylor and Cuello's Distillery Ltd - we wouldn't have made it possible but these people came out for us and we want to big them up to the end, especially Loan to Go. We have a lot of volunteers who come out to help us, to come and stick something - that is what I like about my neighbors because they always consistently give our band and they never ever take their children out of our bands to go to other bands. They are with Pickstock and they say that they will die with Pickstock - so Pickstock all the way."

Reporter
"The elements of nature - tell us about the different segments."

Gary Gill
"Elements of nature consist of nature, things that we see everyday in our life - we have the Sun, the Clouds, the Water, Hurricane then after the Hurricane we have the beautiful rainbow that sprouts out in different colors."

Next stop was at Jump Street Posse Mas Camp where these revellers ranging from age 5 to 17 gave us a taste of the carnival spirit. With almost 30 years of experience in carnival, Marina Welcome who is the band owner continues to keep her carnival passion alive, despite the financial challenges.






Marina Welcome - Band Leader
"It's hard to tell the kids NO - when they catch the bus and they come behind here 'Ms. Marina is Jump Street coming out this year' and it's so much of them and it's hard for me to say no. We are facing a little problem with the schools, they have to realize it's only once a year - the kids need to have fun and I don't think we're doing anything wrong with Carnival - the dances are perfect for the kids, the clothing - everything is perfect, so please release the kids so that they can have fun; it's only once a year and it's only one day."

Reporter
"I know Ms Marina when it comes to Carnival, you're always portraying an event that is affecting our society or icons of our society - what are you doing this year?"

Marina Welcome
"Our theme this year is Belizean Legacy and it's in the memory of my main man - Andy Palacio. It's all about Belize, we have the Belizean jewel, that's Belize itself - our second section is all about the Garifuna - you can't go wrong because they are recognized in Belize. We know about November 19th, so we are doing the re-enactment for November 19th because they came back to Belize in 1802 and that is when all that started. It's going to be so different this year because I know for November 19th, Christmas and New Years - everybody enjoyed the two foot cowboy so we're doing the two foot cow - carnival style."

Reporter
"This weekend is the King and Queen Competition at the Roger's stadium - how ready is jump street posse without giving out secrets about your king and queen participating."

Marina Welcome
"Hey, Jump Street Posse is an open camp - we don't care who see and who knows because trust me, they won't take the time and do these. We have an open camp and everybody is welcome as long as they don't come and cause any problem. We are ready for Saturday except for one costume, but trust me by tomorrow night something is going to happen and we'll be there. We're doing two queens and two kings for Saturday."

And last but not least on our list of visits for the night was Eternity Mas Band. It's the senior band 7th year in carnival – and they plan on being no different in brining the hype come carnival day.






Misty Williams - Band Leader
"This year we're portraying a fantasy - we wanted to expand and explore the mind - we wanted spot colors and that's what we came up with. We have a passion section - we have to have that passion and that feeling to compete or to at least try to reach the fantasy - we have the fantasia section which is really summarizing the fantasy."

Monica Bodden
"Tell us how many revelers you guys have?"

Misty Williams
"We have 85 revelers."

Monica Bodden
"You have space for more?"

Misty Williams
"We are trying not to but if it comes to that then we'll just take them."

Monica Bodden
"Are these revelers ready for the road march?"

Misty Williams
"We are definitely ready as always."

Monica Bodden
"Tell us a little bit about sponsorship - how has that been?"

Misty Williams
"It was not as good as last year - we got a late sponsor 'Carib' but nonetheless it is something and we just came together and put our stuff and we did a little fund raising and here we are."

Tonight is the last night for the carnival Mas camp visits. The 4 senior bands that our team will be visiting are Belizean Jewel, Evolution Mas Band, Mother Nature's Creation and Erotic Mas Band.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize