Festival Village
opens a week early
~ Open house on Saturday ~
POND ISLAND/St. Maarten--The highest point of St. Maarten Festival Village, the top of the stage, was reached on Saturday. To mark this construction milestone, Commissioner Theo Heyliger, aided by a lift, doused the frame with champagne.
The village will open one week ahead of schedule with an open house on Saturday, April 14. Heyliger, who initiated the project, said the construction is moving ahead of schedule, allowing for the opening to the public to take place, before the start of carnival on Saturday, April 21.
The open house idea was conceived as a way for the public to get a look at how what was the Carnival Village, an open area with makeshift booths around the perimeter, has been transformed into a large open space with some 68 permanent booths.
The booths have all the utility connections and were built about three and a half feet from the ground to safeguard against flooding.
The stage is twice the size of the old stage and has six dressing rooms for performers to change and is accessible via a back entrance for equipment and other materials to be loaded on or off.
At the entrance, there are three ticket booths and turnstiles to keep count of the number of people in the festival village which has the capacity for more than 12,000 people.
The premises have been checked out and approved by the Fire Department, according to Heyliger. “A lot of thought and planning went into this project and we involved the Fire Department every step of the way.”
Commenting on the stage deal with St. Maarten Telephone Company TelEm, Heyliger said only the company has exclusive rights to the stage. The rest of the village is open to all sponsors. However, if a sponsor wants to advertise on the stage, this would have to be negotiated with TelEm and royalties would have to be paid to the telephone company.
He said it was important to give the local telephone company exposure in the festival village, especially because of the investment in the underwater cable that was pulled in recently. With the capabilities of this cable, the village is already wired to transmit live concerts and events via television and internet.
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