SCDF producing coloring book of Carnival icons for 50th Anniversary
PHILIPSBURG — The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) will produce a children’s coloring book for Carnival 2019 as one of the many projects to mark the 50th Anniversary of Carnival. The foundation is actively trying to re-vive the youth participation and interest in cultural aspects of Carnival and has chosen to so starting with the children in elementary levels.
President of the SCDF Alston Lourens said the coloring book will feature about 15 pages of Carnival icons and things typical to Carnival. Well known Carnival artists and other stakeholders will be depicted as well as Carnival trucks, something representative of the pageants and more. He said the book will be distributed free of charge to children and all drawings is being done by local tattoo artist Christford Shillingford of the company Inkorporated.
“The coloring book will not just be pictures to color. We will also include basic information about each person and thing included in the coloring book. It is important they they not only color a picture of Pa Ben (for example) but also learn about how and why he was important to Carnival and St. Maarten,”Lourens said.
“This is just one of the projects the community can look forward to for Carnival 50. Moving forward the SCDF will place a lot of focus on getting young people positively involved in Carnival on all levels. We are using Carnival 50 to start this important endeavor and we hope we can get the cooperation of the community for other youth related projects in particular when they are directly involved positively and culturally,” Lourens said.
Photo caption: Carnival icon Roland “Pa Ben” Bryson will be depicted in the children’s coloring book for Carnival 50.
