RCS touched down in Miami for the Miami Broward One Carnival 2015. There are so many fetes, that if one does not pace oneself, one can pass out as I did in 2012. I fainted in the street, dehydrated, too many fetes in one day, 85-95 degree heat and with a BP of 160-110! Thankfully, there would not be a repeat this year.
Thursday night October 8, Team RCS had to rep for NYC at Young Chow’s New Yorker’s Gold with anything Socavivor party at Club Ivy in Miami. Fada Fox had the crowd “Duckin”.
Friday morning we went to the all white beach party at Historic Virginia Key Beach in Miami, we were there “wid we fren an dem”. Some members of our group were not happy because the food lines were very long. We left the beach day party and joined “Captain” Jason Benn for his Shorts and Shades a sunset cruise aboard the S.S. Musette . Everyone had a great time. As mentioned earlier, we paced ourselves so after the boat ride on Carnival Friday night we were home in bed by midnight.
@MIAbroCarnival The situation RIGHT NOW at J’ouvert #MiamiCarnival #soca #reggae #Caribbean ##Trinidad #USVI #Haiti #Jamaica A video posted by Red Carpet Shelley (@redcarpetshelley) on
Saturday morning found us at Jouvert in the Central Broward Regional Park, I was told it started at 7am, but I got there at 11.30am and still enjoyed 3 hours in the blazing hot sun (if I closed my eyes, I could feel as if I were in the Caribbean).
As I left the park I spoke with a young senior gentleman, a Trinidadian residing in Ft. Lauderdale, who informed me he had not slept all night, he left a party at 3am and went straight to Jouvert which ended at 2.30pm Saturday afternoon.
This correspondent rested and then set my sights on the 30th anniversary party of Omari International Sound System.
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Sunday, aka Carnival Day took place at the Miami Dade County Fair and Expo Center. Over 20 mas bands paraded all day some not crossing the stage until almost midnight! One Island Mas Band had over 1,500 masqueraders, with 11 sections: Game of Thrones, Addicted, Karma Sutra, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Coldest Winter, Fifty shades of Grey, Scarlet Letter, Great Gatsby, Last of the Mohicans, Hunger Games and Angels and Demons. Unfortunately, there was a 15-20 minute delay for the masqueraders to take the stage due to security issues with letting masqueraders through the gates.
The Antiguan Tourist Board in association with MBOC presented several acts from Antigua, Super Mario, M&M Music, Soca Monarch Winterman and Claudette Peters. All Soca artists must have stamina. I recall Claudette Peters and Da Band perform on top of a truck for hours in one carnival in Antigua several years ago. Do you remember the song ‘Something got a hold on me’.
The Sunday night Socavivor event Jabba Strikes Back, all black event was fantastic, Some members of my group arrived late and waited outside for a long time because they apparently “ran out of physical tickets” (you will hear more about this later).
Had a blast! The traffic situation needs to be addressed. One main entrance was not enough for general admission attendees. At a certain point the secondary entrance(s) (VIP, etc.) should have been utilized to alleviate 1- 2 hour wait to enter parking. ~ Post to Miami Carnival Facebook page
There can always be improvements to the event, venues, vendors and traffic/parking situation, but all in all this was a fantastic carnival experience and God’s willing I will be back!
