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WESTERN BUREAU:
Like a bolt of lightning, Trinidad's soca giant, Machel Montano, struck St Lucia's national landmark Pigeon Island, captivating some 1,000 Caribbean Market-place revellers, sending them into Carnival gear last Tuesday night.
"Hands up" was his sole instruction, as the obedient party people discarded their seats for centre stage, forcing those behind them to take permanent spots on the dance floor.
It was obvious from entering Pigeon Island that St Lucia's minister of tourism, Allen Chastenet, was hell-bent that this year's event surpassed Orville 'Shaggy' Burrell's 2005 Caribbean Marketplace performance in Montego Bay. So the jury is out.
Executive producer of the event, Adrian Augier, said he envisaged a happy, bright and spontaneous setting catering to a carnival of the taste buds, and seven food booths serving every imaginable dish from soups to meats, sweets to starches and salads did the trick.
Showcasing a panorama of steel bands, stilt-walkers and winged costumed characters, complemented by masquerade dancers and five of St Lucia's soca giants on the same stage with Machel Montano and his sidekick Fredricka Roberts, was a 'win-win' situation and indisputably the icing on the cake.
'Chipping down the Road', Montano gave lessons of The Belly Dance, Nappy Farmer and his newest song, the sizzling hot Tempo.
Montano's performance was just one of several high points closing two days of meetings of Caribbean suppliers and their tour operator buyers, ready to take the global recession head on.
Simultaneously, St Lucia had controversial British singer, Amy Winehouse, running wild on the island, creating excitement wherever she went, while investors from all over, including the Ritz Carlton, were preparing to break ground for a magnificent new resort and residential development.
See more in The Gleaner's business section on plans being made by the eastern Caribbean country to make its impact on the world tourism stage.
janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com
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