A total of 75 small, medium and large bands have registered with the National Carnival Commission (NCC) to cross the Queen’s Park Savannah stage for the Parade of the Bands on Carnival Monday and Tuesday.
Confirmation came from an NCC source who has been putting preparations in place for the two-day street parade. The spokesman said masqueraders will have access to six routes.
The colour-coded routes outlined in an NCC 2018 Carnival map which the T&T Guardian obtained have been listed as Band, Socadrome, Piccadilly, Exit, Emergency and Escape.
The only change, the source said, was that bands converging at the corner of Park and Charlotte Streets will be allowed to turn west of Park Street as an escape route.
“Basically Socadrome, Piccadilly and the band routes have remained the same as last year. There are no major changes,” the source said.
Socadrome and Piccadilly have the shortest route with the Band route being the longest.
The Socadrome route shows that band members will gather at the Nelson Mandela Park following which they will make their way into Woodbrook before proceeding into the Jean Pierre Complex.
Socadrome’s Danielle Jones-Hunte said they will be working with the NCC’s route.
The starting point for the Band route begins at the Queen’s Park Savannah where masqueraders will proceed onto Tragarete Road then turn off at the Queen’s Park Oval into Woodbrook and head back into the capital city.
NCC has designated four judging points—Victoria Square, South Quay, Piccadilly Greens and the Savannah for bands entering the small, medium and large categories of the Parade of the Bands competition.
Last year, NCC replaced Adam Smith Square with Victoria Square as a judging point.
Of the four judging points, the source said the bands must cross three with the savannah being mandatory.
With the organisers of this year’s Socadrome opening up the Jean Pierre Complex stage to all masqueraders and individuals on Carnival Tuesday, the source said they expect things to be busier than usual.
The source said on Saturday for the Junior Parade of the Bands they will do an experiment near the Port-of-Spain General Hospital which has been designated “a no noise zone” where they would play music using a deejay and two speaker boxes.
“We will play the music at a reasonable level for the children and once this works the same concept will be applied for Carnival Monday and Tuesday for the adults. We have been in discussions with the Environmental Management Authority to ensure compliance.”