Culture Minister Daryl Matthew said on Thursday that he wants to see the return on the traditional Carnival Queen Show.
In recent years, the Miss Antigua Barbuda Pageant has replaced the Queen of Carnival competition.
The competition took an even more interesting turn this year with the crowning of three winners.
“I believe we need out queen show back,” Matthew told state media.
Although claiming to have “no issue” with the Miss Antigua Barbuda pageant, the minister noted, “I don’t think Carnival is the place for that pageant.”
He said members of the public must be able to see the show in its entirety to debate who won the various segments.
“This is what our carnival is,” he insisted.
This year, some segments of the competition were pre-judged.
“That is one of the discussions we are going to have to see how we can integrate our queens show into the carnival…with one queen.”
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I agree. That nonsense of a show that Calvin had should never see the light of day again.
In my opinion,there was nothing wrong with the show,to me it was done professionally.It seem our society lacks the finesse and class to appreciate an International type pageant,which is what the Pageant was.. This is why i agree 100% with the Minister,the format of that pageant really do not fit into our Carnival,even the name has been changed to a more formal one.. That pageant can continue,with its winner going on to represent whatever other International pageant they wish to participate in.The regular Carnival Queen show should continue during the week of Carnival itself.. While you’re at it Mr Minister,see if you can bring the formal Majorette back -those dressed in their white with the boots and batons, also we need more of the John Bulls on the road for the opening and last day parade.-all that will help to bring back some of our traditional Carnival customs which is sorely lacking.. We should appreciate that time has changed,therefore there will be some changes to the festival to fit the times,but if we remove everything cultural and replace with all new,it will no longer be our Carnival..
There was nothing particularly “classy” about the pageant. So please do not try to downplay Antiguan people to up this trash. Which international pageant you know does not start exactly on time? Which international pageant you know that does not end within 3 hours max? Which international pageant you know is laden with boundless other entertainment that almost if not exceeds the time the delegates are on stage? Also, not to say the young ladies aren’t special in their own right but they were well below par. Have you seen the representatives in Ms. World? Ms. Universe? The women are educated and damn near flawless so stop your foolishness.
@ Currer Bell- You sound absolutely bitter.. You accuse me of downplaying Antigua people- i cant see how & where i did so,yet you go on to blatantly belittle the young ladies who took part in the Pageant.. Review your last paragraph and see who is downplaying anyone,just listen to yourself..You my dear is entitled to your opinion and so do i..I still maintain,the lack of appreciation for such a pageant tells the whole story.Sorry if you’re offended..
Of being on both sides of the Road. First let me start by saying my opinion is in no way in support of one over the other be it The 2018 production under the leadership of Calvin South well or those against the idea.
That being said, I believe the general public just as much as the new minister of Carnival and culture need to familiarize themselves with other standards of doing an international pageant and not be so quick to eat away of someone trying to do something. Not everything will work at first, but, it never hurts to try.
1. The idea of crowning three delegates is nothing new to our pageant. It has been done before in the past. And to even emphasize on it even more, going back to the queen of carnival it happened there too without the public even acknowledging the roles of the placed delegates and winner of the carnival queen crown. There has always been three winners. The only difference is the 1st, and 2nd runner up were not normally crowned. However their roles always remained the same as is the case that happened this year. The current miss Antigua I presumed was to be carded off to prepare for Miss World and Universe thereby the First/ second Runner up would have to take her place in the JCI Pageant if she was unable to go. That has always been the case
2.We also talk about raising the standard and yet when something is being attempted it is quick to be ridiculed. When the appointed time for persons to raise to the challenge all become quiet. My vote is to let Calvin direct the pageant. Give the man a chance Others have done it and many others will come after to do more. Calvin is a seasoned beautician and I trust that he knows what he is doing. Not every dream will be supported and I am pretty sure Calvin Southwell, Vanda Neale Gardener, Shane Marsh or Mr C Vankelt ( not to certain about your name spelling) have all given their best with much naysayers and cuss out behind the scenes from many. Including those who were placed in charge of our culture ministry.
And being very honest and damn well blunt they can’t do any damn well better than what they are seeing produced. Stop your hateful criticism and give constructive feedback. The nation can not be built by one human it takes all hands.
The best thing for all these talented minds to do is come together and plan the show rather than trying to spearhead it by themselves.. Ego’s may take hold of some as I say this but it is what it is. There is so much of trying to out do what that person has done that we fail to see the art form suffering. Personally I wasn’t happy with the execution of the 2018 Queen show, however I understood what was trying to be done because of international standard.
Perhaps we should get up off of our behinds and stop living in the past and re educate ourselves about modernity.
3. The queen of carnival show is a vital part of Antigua’s carnival without a doubt. However as was evidenced again this year Antigua’s delegate no fault of hers was robbed of a fair chance to prepare for properly for her next duties to the country ie the JCI pageant. The catalyst of separating the pageant was one to facilitate the delegate getting more time to prepare for that show. JCI is not a pageant owned by Carnival and has different standards. Her being trained for Ms Antigua Barbuda is totally different to what she will be required to endure and participate in in that or any other pageant. Given the delegate a week at best is an insult rather worse 3 days. The Ms Antigua pageant needs to stay separate. A queen of Carnival title also does not hold much weight as an ambassador. Ms Antigua Barbuda has a better official title internationally. The counties representative should’ve been selected earlier up in the year to assist in representing to the best of her abilities.
Former minister of Culture and Carnival Hon. Chet Greene. I understand your vision as do many others. Perhaps the new minister needs to focus on fixing children’s carnival and the other shows. Druesday why does one Soda artiste have an entire day to himself within the calendar of the carnival celebrations and the other ridiculous fetes are the same day as the shows… Why aren’t you focussing on that and why was Teen splash a much better show than most of the other production’s heck teen splash was a better show than Jaycees and Queen show. But I digress.
Yes yes and when you get it back take private interest out of the week of carnival and have the show on the Tuesday and don’t give it away. Then again maybe there is persona interest as to why the Tuesday was given away this year.
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