A carnival to remember

It is half past nine. The wintry wind gradually sweeps across the long stretch of Stadium road at Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt. Our taxi struggles to find a decent place to park as the Liberty Stadium gate is filled with food and souvenir vendors who are struggling to arrest the attention of passersby. After hooting for a couple of minutes, he finally pulled up close to the stadium main gate. Yomi, our guide, pays the taxi driver as we walked into the congested venue. The entrance is well decorated with images of masquerades with a sign on the large arc welcoming guests to the final day of the Port Harcourt annual carnival, Carniriv.

On the walkways leading to the stadium main bowl, a crowd of carnival revilers gathered with eyes fixated on different array of drinks neatly arranged on them.

“What are these drinks for? I asked Yomi.

“These are gamblers,” he tells me. “You will have to pay N100 to be a part of it.”

And so, I left our group and walked a little closer to experience first-hand what the game was all about. I moved up the walkway and found myself beside a middle aged man dressed in dirty blue jeans with a black T-shirt. He holds tightly in his left hand five black plastic rings. He picks a ring in his right hand at a time as he aims to throw each one at the drinks neatly arranged on the ground. He throws the first one but it narrowly missed a bottle of Fanta. He tries again, this time changing his position but luck is still not on his side. He tries again the third one, almost getting impatient and perhaps frustrated by his poor attempts, he still misses his target. He moves to try again but with caution as he tilted his backside backward with his trunk lurching forward, he throws the last ring and off it goes sinking firmly at the bottom of a litre of bottled Coke. He shouts with excitement as he beckons on the owner of the gambling spot to give him his win.

That is just one of the many side attractions at the annual Carniriv festival which began on Friday 12th December, 2014 and ended on Saturday 20th of December in the Garden City of Port Harcourt.

Carniriv is considered the oldest and arguably one of the biggest carnival brands on the African continent. The first edition of the carnival was held in 1988. With a total of twelve major events cutting across arts, culture and music, and sport, some of the major events of the 2014 edition include the Miss Carniriv, Praise Jam, Dance of Fireflies, Ekere – rhythm of the tribes, Egelege – champion of the sand arena and HOSH Jam. Others are the International Aquatic Fiesta, Black African Musical Festival (BAMFEST), Reggae 360, International Heritage Parade, Garden City Free Style Parade and the World Peace Concert.

An estimated number of over five hundred thousand revellers including 23 local government floats and scores tour groups, took part in the 2014 edition.  Carniriv’s Garden City Freestyle Parade covers fourteen kilometres of street parade made of colourful displays and entertainment for people of all ages. Carniriv, the Port Harcourt Carnival, is a fusion of two carnivals: a purely cultural carnival and a contemporary Caribbean style carnival.

Beyond the parade, what makes Carniriv different is the volume of businesses that the inhabitants of Port Harcourt pull. That evening at the grand finale of the festival food, drink, and souvenir vendors are everywhere haggling over prices with consumers.

What attracted the large crowd that evening is the grand performances by Timaya and a host of other artistes plus the announcement of winners in the various categories of the parade. Kate Yellow, winner in the best costume designer category says it is her third year at the carnival. In 2013, she came second as the best costume designer and she designed the best costume for the best queen and king the same year.

“I am looking forward to another outing next year,” she says. “My inspiration comes God. All year round, I do art work, painting and mosaic. The Carniriv has done me a lot of good as the carnival inspires me and makes me work harder.”

Earlier Carniriv kicked off with the maiden edition of Miss Carniriv which crowned Miss Port Harcourt, Stephaine Chinda, as the carnival Queen at a competitive final which attracted representatives from the 23 local government areas to the Hotel Presidential in Port Harcourt. Miss Chinda smiled home with a brand new Hyundai Grand car, a foreign scholarship to study overseas as part of the Rivers State Government’s foreign study scholarship scheme and all the privileges befitting of a true Port Harcourt beauty queen.

A star performance by Waje and an A-class presentation by Uti Nwachukwu, compeer for the event, set the tone for the entire carnival which will be remembered for its colour, creativity, uniqueness and spirit of togetherness which permeated the entire carnival season

In addition, Dance of Fireflies, International Aquatic Fiesta, Cultural Arts Exhibition, Egelege, Ekere, BAMFEST, Reggae 360, HOSH Jam and the International Heritage Parade are some of the activities that will make the 2014 Carniriv a carnival to remember . The high point of the Carnival was the Garden City Freestyle Parade, a 14 kilometre carnival procession which was flagged off by the State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, who led the walk till the end.

Carniriv 2014 will be remembered for the opportunity it afforded young people to showcase their talents. More vimportanly, it will be remembered for the commerce it opens up yearly for the people of Rivers state.

FUNKE OSAE-BROWN