By Wallace J.A

TELESCOPE, St.Andrew (17/02/2006) –
The St.Andrew’s Anglican Secondary School (SAASS), held its annual fair and dance today, deviating from its tradition of holding the function on a Sunday. The main reason behind this change has to do with the fact that in Grenada, transportation is hard to obtain on Sundays and many people have complained in the past that they wanted to attend the fair but could not because of the unavailability of commuter busses. Additionally, school children will now be able to be present at the function, get home on time and not have to worry about going to school the following morning.

There were many persons in attendance at the fair and based on their positive comments, they really had a fantastic time. There were many stalls with several varieties of eats and drinks, ranging from confectionaries to fried chicken. There were also ‘dips’ and many other intriguing games, some of which were designed to test one’s skill and others, to test one’s problem solving abilities.

The fair this year took on supplementary dimensions as the students of the school were given the chance to showcase their talent. There were skits, performed by young actors from the school’s drama group; a fashion show, which featured contemporary as well as traditional clothing; and live performances from Kitaka ‘Lil Ras’ Mawuto, Kelson ‘Electrify’ Ogiste, son of calypso legend, Lady Cinthy; and many other ‘budding’ soca artists. This, however, was merely a warm up for what was to follow.

The audience were quick to leave their seats, clear the hall, and ‘get on bad’ when some of Grenada’s top soca artists came on stage to give live renditions of some of their biggest hits. In attendance were Tiger T; the ‘Hit Man’ Inspector, who is a former student of SAASS; the reigning Road March King and Soca Monarch of Grenada, Boogie B, among others. The packed hall reverberated to the sounds of singing, shouting, screaming, cheering and dancing as people became ‘fired up’ by these energetic and awe-inspiring performers.

The events for the day climaxed with a teenage dance party. The young people were given a chance to enjoy themselves in an ambiance that was carefully organized for them. They danced to the music of top Grenadian disc jockey, DJ Small Clothes, who provided the music throughout the day. There were many hard-working teachers around to assist in the smooth operation of the exercise and the level of harmonization, with respect to the various activities, was excellent.

In retrospect, SAASS 2k6 Fair, Concert and Dance could be accurately characterized as a smashing success. The organizers promise that next year will be bigger and better.

For scenes from SAASS Fair, Concert and Dance, go to photosgrenada.