Plans are well underway for the staging of the 2010 Regional String Band & Maroon Music Festival of Carriacou and Petite Martinique. The event, which replaces the Carriacou Maroon Music Festival, will be one with a difference, promises Allison Caton, Tourism Development Officer for Carriacou and Petite Martinique. She said next year’s Festival will be held the last weekend in April, starting with a “Village Maroon’’ in Six Roads. Critical to the festival, and one of the central event sites, is the Belair Heritage Park. Organisers are therefore working feverishly to complete the beautification of the park, saying the aim is to have it depict all aspect of Carriacou’s culture. The current Tillman Thomas-led government has publicly stated its intention to establish a policy linking culture and tourism, which will include greater marketing of Carriacou and Petite Martinique as a centre of indigenous music. It is hoped that the development of the Regional String Band & Maroon Music Festival will be an element in the enhancement of Carriacou’s tourism product. By Deanna Isaac