HOW TWITTER SAVED CARNIVAL

I know someone will see the title of this blog post and try to ruin the concept of it all by trying to be super politically correct about it. It did not work the first time and it will not work today. I am well aware that Twitter did not actually save the Caribbean – but neither did the Federation, or CARICOM or the OECS so that’s that on that. Now let’s talk.

Even a blind man could tell that this might just be St Lucia’s biggest Carnival yet. There would be enough people stepping on his heels in Rodney Bay to figure it out. The limited sidewalk space because of costume back-pieces taking up half of the space got a little frustrating. I didn’t want to be brushed by random feathers – it was not yet the time or place.

If that didn’t convince you that the island has been overrun by the rest of the region as well as the diaspora and the unrelated tourist who just wanted to join the jump up – just look at twitter. Every picture posted in the last week is set in St Lucia – at one of the countless fetes or in a hotel or on the Ramp. If it’s not a picture, it’s a post talking about how wild Lucians can get while dancing to ‘anything goes’ in what’s either mud, clay or both; or on the other end of the spectrum, a Vincentian badding up our KFC. I don’t fault her though. KFC in Rodney Bay is truly the worst.

Either way, it’s apparent that a good portion of Caribbean Twitter had descended upon our island and came well prepared to make themselves at home in fete after fete. St Lucian Twitter has been embracing and seems to enjoy meeting up with those who finally made the trip to our Carnival. It’s also really good to see Caribbean Twitter learn every single lyric to Edwin’s ‘Call My Mother’, Ezra and Motto’s ‘Man With Ride’, and Kelly B’s ‘Anything Goes’. It speaks greatly to the impact and reach of Dennery Segment as a genre making its place in the regional landscape.

It also speaks to how amazing Twitter is a facilitator of regional integration. In Did Twitter Save the Caribbean?, I talked about this very theory as well as how the app is an unintentional marketing tool.

You can bet your last dollar (you probably only have one after paying for every fete this season anyway) that the St Lucia Tourism Authority is about to snatch up all the credit for bringing in the most visitors that the island has ever seen for a Carnival season. We all know, however, that regular St Lucian feters who post pictures and reviews are the ones really responsible for booking out our hotels. If only they got some sort of recognition or compensation.

If you’re reading this as a member of regional Twitter, buy from locals to help support the economy, enjoy the rest of your stay and come back in October for Jounen Kweyol

Photo credit: The Right Angle Photography (TRAP)