The opposition and the naysayers have trumpeted doom before the event. Some of the best radio commentators have vilified the president for moving the national Carnival from Port au Prince. Yet, it has produced a boom to the regional cities. New infrastructure has been built to accommodate the visitors, those visitors have discovered their own country they did not know before; relationships have incubated new business, generating growth in the hinterland, and Christmas came in July for the small merchants of water, juice, soda and beer in Port au Prince.
I missed the first Carnival of Flowers last year, the new name of the second institution created by the president. I was in New York attending to my father’s medical routine examination in the United States. I am in Haiti this year and I would not miss the event for any reason.
In fact, I was in the northern part of Haiti, reveling in the summer religious fiesta of St Jacques le Majeur in voodoo infested La Plaine du Nord, as well as the debauchery culture of Limonade for the fiesta of St Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary. I skipped the fiesta of St Martha on July 29 in the bucolic village of Marmelade to be on time in the plaza of independence in Port au Prince, the venue of the flower carnival. via – Caribseek News
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Categories: English, Haiti, KANAVAL 2013
