Pan Fest spices up Germany

Community Development and Culture Minister Joan Yuille-Williams and Tourism Development Minister Howard Chin Lee said the artistes, steelbands and masqueraders will support the Soca Warriors not by attending the games but by whipping up support in the streets with their performances. There will also be moko jumbies lining the “Soca Caravan” (Tourism Development Company booth).

Yuille-Williams, disclosing some of the details yesterday, stressed that the cultural contingent was not there to have a good time, but to market Trinidad and Tobago so that trade, tourism and investment would flow after the festival is over. “None of the persons in the cultural contingent have tickets to the games because we told them they are there to work,” she said, adding, “This is no free ride.”

“I have been in contact with them in Germany... and they are feeling like true ambassadors because they are telling me that people are rushing to their hotel looking for autographs, (and) asking if they are the “Soca Warriors,”’ she said.

The minister denied that there was any chaos and confusion accompanying the movement of the cultural contingent. She said she was present at Piarco when the group left and it was one of the smoothest send-offs for a team that large.

She stated that Junior Regrello’s departure to Germany on the Sunday before (the group left) was “strategically planned”... She said Regrello who is in charge of ground transport, deliberately left earlier in order to make all the arrangements for coaches and other transportation in time for when the contingent arrived on Monday. She said Regrello and Len “Boogsie” Sharpe held a news conference on Monday at which “Boogsie” played and at which the Mayor of Dortmund attended dressed in Trinidad and Tobago colours.

Yuille-Williams said the Government team visited Germany four times and spoke with promoters, looked at venues and was therefore able to devise an extensive programme. The programme was released to the media at yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference. Contrary to the practice, Yuille-Williams said the pan-around-the-neck band would be used during the parade, (because the streets in the city centre are made of cobble stone) with Phase 11 and Roy Cape being stationary somewhere along the way.