PHILIPSBURG--Three bands, one DJ and thousands of people jammed from Cole Bay to Philipsburg on Saturday night in the much anticipated Unity Jump-Up, the first event of Carnival 2011.
Billed as the first warm-up before the official Carnival period begins on April 25, the Unity Jump-Up was incident-free and moved without delay over its designated route. St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) President Stuart Johnson said the foundation was elated with the way the jump-up had gone.
"Everything went very, very well," he said. "We were happy to see thousands of Carnival-lovers enjoying themselves in the jump-up and even more along the roadsides looking on. It is apparent that those who love Carnival are starting to realise that its success and the success of these events depend on how they carry themselves, how they take care of Carnival.
"We applaud the effort of the Police Department, Sheriff Security, Ambulance Department, Red Cross and all our partners in Carnival."
He made special mention of the bands that had made the jump-up possible in the first place. On the road were 4M Band, No Limit Band, Official Band and a DJ sponsored by Carib Beer. While all of the bands had hundreds of revellers behind them, Official Band had the majority for most of the route.
"We can see that the battle of the bands has already started. They are sizing each other up. We can't be happier with all of them. There were no extended technical glitches, they controlled their revellers and everything rolled smoothly," Johnson said.
Although not rushed, the jump-up finished almost two hours ahead of schedule.
The Unity Jump-Up did not start on the French side as was the tradition, as the French government, via letter from St. Martin President Franz Gumbs, had declined to start the event over there, citing trouble with jump-ups on that side of the island.
SCDF had no such trouble on the Dutch side. "That's thanks to the heavy presence and no-nonsense attitude of our police and security force," Johnson added.
Next up for SCDF and Carnival lovers is the "F�te to Fitness Around Town Jump-Up" on Saturday, March 26. That jump-up will start at the Festival Village at 8:00pm, make its way down Walter Nisbeth Road (Pondfill), turn onto Longwall Road at Prins Bernhard Bridge, pass Vlaun and Son, travel along Cannegieter Street to Windward Islands Bank, turn left to head past the police station and end at the Festival Village.
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