Assou Square celebrations kick off in high gear this weekend (notably with a ‘preview’ of sorts to start off Sunday), and with a number of activities planned for the New Year event, organizers are expecting this year’s Assou Square to be a success.
Communications Officer in the Department of Housing Yasmin Steele hinted this much recently.
Steele, in an interview noted that the activity will be held on the Derek Walcott Square as usual, and will feature a number of musicians including the Derek Yarde Project.
This year Assou Square will once again feature a children’s zone in order to “separate adults from children (so) that the children are able to enjoy themselves and really understand what we, when we grew up as children, understood Assou Square to be (in terms of) games, rides, etc. The children’s section will be from the William Peter Boulevard to Constitution Park-we’ll have bouncy castles for them, train rides … all other amenities for children,” Steel said.
On the opposite side, “on the Derek Walcott Square… that’s where we have alcohol. The William Peter Boulevard into Constitution Park will be an alcohol-free area. Again, it (Constitution Park) is for the children. The whole Assou Square activity is to encourage family… (it’s) to encourage the children to go back to the days of playing,” Steele added.
Castries Mayor Geraldine Lendor-Gabriel recently noted that whilst, “it’s quite expensive to set up the booths, we’ve always been ready to subsidise that. It’s not a money-making event for the CCC, we don’t see ourselves increasing the cost. What we found last year was that the demand far outstrips the availability. We expect the same again.”
Lendor-Gabriel said this year’s event is going to be similar to last year’s, as people were “happy with what took place; we can only build on what we had from last year. We have everything in place for that.”
Security is also at the top of the list as well. According to Lendor-Gabriel, “government has invested in cameras. We take the opportunity to encourage the private sector to invest in cameras as well. We started off in the market (and) we are going to beef up in the arcade…”
Earlier this month, Operations Manager for the CCC Antonius Calderon stated that the Council is doing its best to live up to expectations.
“Persons will flock to the Derek Walcott Square for all the eats and goodies. There will be entertainment so it’s a whole festive season where we’ll try to make sure that everybody’s happy and…” will “have a good time.”
For artistes, it is a great opportunity for them “to showcase their talent which we encourage. For vendors the price remains the same which is $550. We will be having booths from Brazil Street alongside Laborie and Micoud area.”
Tomorrow’s event will feature a number of students from local secondary schools who are expected to set the stage ablaze.