The Grand-Case Tuesdays are back for a seventeenth edition rich in colors which will take place over eight Tuesdays between 18 and 22 p.m. starting on February 5. What happiness!
“In 2018, after Irma, we decided to make a small edition to keep the thread and show that the island was alive. This year has been a bit special. Many people were demotivated and we felt that we had to start all over again, ”explained Chantal Vernusse, at the press conference organized yesterday at La Plantation.
The president of Calypso Events, whose agency took over the organization of the event in partnership with the tourist office in 2006, three years after its creation, said that she went to the tourism fair this year with the Tourist Office team. “Valérie Damaseau assured us of the Office's support and asked to stay motivated, which gave us the courage to continue. Together, we have reconstructed the project which returns to its initial form but which we have strengthened ”.
It is therefore an enriched version of these evenings of annual family and friendly events around the Boulevard de Grand Case, made pedestrian, which returns with the aim of "highlighting the local colors". The idea remains the same: that Grand Case, the old fishing village that has become the gastronomic capital of the Antilles, comes alive to live to the rhythm of a frenzied festivity mixing gastronomy, music and local crafts.
Since Irma, many exhibitors have left the island, all of the restaurateurs and hoteliers have not yet reopened, the boulevard, which has been under construction for several months, is not very passable, not to mention the power cuts and networks. The Calypso team decided to repeat the event despite everything and requested the technical services of the COM. “When we see the state of the Boulevard de Grand Cas, we understand the complexity of organizing an event there. But the holes are filling up, ”assured Chantal Vernusse.
Thirty merchants and around sixty exhibitors have already responded. To which should be added twenty or thirty others along the way, as every year. The local cuisine will be highlighted in a space dedicated to its tasting in which the cattle breeders of the territory will participate and which will end with a competition rewarding the best local dish (s). Culture will not be outdone and this year new talents (singers, graffiti artists, comedians) will have their own scene, called Mardi'scovers New Talents and animated by DJ Kingsman, to express themselves. Dance will also be in the spotlight, and associations are invited to ignite the dance floor on Caribbean rhythms. The traditional carnival parades will end each Tuesday with a parade full of feathers and glitter.
Among the other novelties of this edition, the organizers decided to set up a shop for small handicrafts, called the Ti'Boutik. A tribute to the late Alain M. Duzant, child of the country, will also be organized every Tuesday, during an open-air exhibition, during which visitors will be able to travel through his most beautiful pictures of St Martin. Finally, a photo competition, offered to all visitors, and overseen by Dauphin Telecom, will reward the best shot of this 2019 edition. The winner, designated by the historic operator, will be offered a tablet. A second tablet will be allocated to the winner of a draw between all the participants.
Partly funded by the Tourist Office, Les Mardis de Grand Case would be nothing without the support of its sponsors, some of whom were present at the press conference (Dauphin Telecom, Immun'Age, Caribbean Liquor and Tobacco).
Each of them is a partner of an event in particular on the event where it will be highlighted. Chantal Vernusse and her team are very grateful to them: “although several of our sponsors have been weakened since Irma, they spontaneously and immediately said yes. We all have in common the desire to help the island revive and to give a beautiful image to tourists. Because if the Mardis de Grand Case attracts a lot of locals, it is also very popular with tourists ”.
As a reminder: every Tuesday, from 16 p.m., the parking ban is effective on Boulevard de Grand Case. And from 18 p.m. Boulevard de Grand Case, Bertin Maurice, is closed to traffic until 22:30 p.m.
• Flash Back on Tuesdays in Grand-Case…
Created in 2003, under the name Harmony Nights, the Mardis de Grand-Case have become, over the years and its editions, always more spectacular than each other, the unmissable annual meeting and much awaited by residents and tourists, many of whom came, especially to live this extraordinary experience of celebration, tradition and discovery. Since its creation, the objective of Mardis de Grand Case, has always been to highlight all that makes the richness of St Martin: In its artisanal products, its music, its gastronomy and its attachment to the carnival. The idea was then that Grand Case, the old fishing village that became the gastronomic capital of the Antilles, comes alive to live to the rhythm of a frenzied festivity mixing gastronomy, music and local crafts. Thus, each year, a different theme, more extravagant floats from one year to the next, and troupes of dancers, who, dressed in their finest costumes in feathers and colors that have nothing to envy at Carnival of Rio, enliven, with more than communicating joy, the Boulevard de Grand Case.
Since 2006, the event has been offered by the Tourist Office of St Martin and signed Calypso Event.
Hats off to the organizers and many partners who contribute each year to the great popular success of this flagship event on the French side!
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