On Saturday November 8, the Carriacou and Petit Martinique Carnival Development Organization successfully launched the 2009 carnival season. The picturesque setting of the Esplande provided the perfect back-drop for an evening of highlights of what is to come for the 2009 season. Christopher Joseph the chairman of the organization in his presentation took the opportunity to acknowledge the rich cultural history of Carriacou and Petit Martinique and the need for that richness to be further developed and featured during carnival festivities. Newly appointed chairman of the Grenada Carnival Committee, Colin Dowe in his first official undertaking pledged his committee’s support to the efforts in Carriacou and reiterated the importance of capitalizing on the uniqueness of our state having two carnivals. Ms. Raelene Lazarus the marketing manager of Digicel, the main sponsors of Carricaou’s carnival, reaffirmed her company’s commitment to carnival on the Sister Isles, not only in the festival month of February but also being part of the activities that would precede the main event. The rest of the evening featured live performances from a host of Artistes including, Super D who has already released one of his 2009 recordings, a song entitled ‘hooked on your body’. Other impressive performers were PPM (Poor People’s Millionaire) with a catchy tune entitled ‘walking stick’, Leftist, Sugar Patch and the reigning Soca Monarch of Carriacou, Shortpree. As the momentum built the reigning road march queen of Grenada made her Carriacou debut. Her performance was well received as she continues to come into her own as a performer. The closing duties belonged to Tallpree and he went through his cache of hits in quick succession keeping the crowd in a continued state of frenzy. The enthusiasm on display on Saturday night is certainly a very good sign of things to come and one should expect the momentum established this weekend to continue all the way to Carnival Monday and Tuesday, February 23 and 24, 2009. Contact: Dexter Mitchell 473-403-1455