Tobago October Carnival 2023 Appreciation Function

Saturday 27th January, Scarborough: The Division of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and
Transportation hosted an Appreciation Cocktail Reception on Thursday 25th January 2024 at the Heritage Pavillion, Pigeon Point Heritage Park. The appreciation function was held to recognize the contribution of sponsors and stakeholders in making Tobago October Carnival 2023 a success.

At the function the six sponsors that included Carib Brewery Limited, Caribbean Airlines Limited, bmobile, Republic Bank Limited, Amplia and Medical Air Services Limited (MASA) were recognized. These sponsors would have come on board and assisted in various capacities.

The night also doubled as the prize-giving ceremony for the bmobile “Band of d’ Road”
competition. Present to distribute the prizes was Ms. Onica Blackman, bmobile’s Head of Tobago Operations. This was the first year the competition was held and prizes were solely adjudged on “people’s choice”. The winners of the three categories Best Cultural Presentation, Traditional Mas and Contemporary Mas were Moriah Heritage Group, Sisters in Culture and Iconic Mas respectively.

Giving opening remarks at the function CEO of the Tobago Performing Arts Company, Jared
Prima expressed his gratitude towards the stakeholders and sponsors for playing their part in the festival’s 2nd iteration. Remarks were also given by Ms. Cindy-Lou Edwards, Chairman Tobago Festivals Commission Limited (TFCL) in which she spoke to the importance of collaboration in making such festivals a success. She also espoused her belief that the efforts of the Tobago October Carnival Committee spearheaded by Dr. Charleston Thomas and comprising of representatives from the Tobago Tourism Agency Limited (TTAL), Tobago Performing Arts Company (TPAC) and Tobago Festivals Commission Limited (TFCL), as well as partnerships with sponsors and stakeholders, contributed to the success of the October carnival product in 2023.

Secretary Tashia Burris, thanked the sponsors and stakeholders for making Tobago October
Carnival 2023 such a resounding success. She expressed her hope to continue building greater
partnerships and seeing more members of the Tobago business community come on board as
sponsors. She also stated that the success of the Carnival is evidenced in the attendance numbers, “When you look at the fact that a carnival that is only 2 years old welcomed over 25,000 people into our capital over the course of 72 hours with no major incidents reported. That is what success looks like to us”.