2017 Christmas Nine Mornings Festival to launch Sunday

The 2017 SVG Christmas/Nine Mornings Festival will be officially launched this Sunday, December 3, from 6 p.m. at Heritage Square.

The programme will begin with the traditional lighted street parade,

featuring the Police Band, Cadet Corps Band, Sion Hill Euphonium Steel Orchestra, X-Pan, String Bands, Rose Bank Boom Drum and the

Rose Hall Drummers. This will be followed by a community Christmas concert and the lighting of Heritage Square.

During the parade, the various communities participating in the festival will vie for: Best Community on Parade. They will be judged on: uniformity of costumes, use of traditional lights and music, quality of presentation and size of contingent. The winning community will earn $2,000. The village of Green Hill won the competition in 2016 with their presentation of “Christmas in Green Hill”.

The lighted street parade will

feature some additions this year: a parade of nations with persons from the Logos Hope ship now in Port Kingstown, dressed in their national costumes, along with Uncle Skinny characters.

The community Christmas concert will begin with a special prayer and word for the nation by Reverend Stephen Ollivierre of the Faith Temple Church. This will be followed by the Best Community Song Competition, in which participating villages in the festival will sing a song about Christmas in their community, with the winner receiving $1,500. Rose Bank won the inaugural competition last year with their song: “Rose Bank has a nice, nice feeling”. Guests artistes for the Christmas concert include: Arabesque Dancers, Stacy Little, Faith Temple Worship Team, The Bowmans and Luta, the reigning most popular local Christmas song winner.

Cecil Mc Kie, Minister of Tourism Sports and Culture is expected to declare the festival open, following which there will be the lighting of Heritage Square. The launch is being held under the theme: “Christmas 2017 – Spreading the Love”.

The Nine Mornings festivities, which are unique to St Vincent and the Grenadines, will be staged across the country from December 16th to 24th. But throughout the month of December, there are also community lightings, concerts, carolling contests and other activities celebrating the Christmas season.