The Social Development Commission (SDC) says strict COVID-19 guidelines will be observed today as it hosts the 2021 St Mary Creative Arts and Skills Festival (CASFest) and community market.

This year the CASFest will be staged at the Annotto Bay car park as the SDC increases its effort to boost economic activity and skills training in the parish.

“Because we are using a parking lot, we have adequate space to do social distance and some of the schools that are participating are doing so virtually. So, in terms of social distancing, that’s a must. All the health protocols obtain for this event and masks are a must for entry into the venue,” said SDC St Mary Parish Manager Shawin Reynolds,

“Throughout the venue, there are adequate sanitisation stations for hand washing and, of course, temperature checks will be done. All the tents will be placed minimum six feet apart, so there is adequate space between each tent and vendor and… persons can easily move around the parking lot to get whatever they need,” added Reynolds.

The SDC has permitted six primary schools to participate, with some participating virtually and some on site.

Reynolds also reported that the CASFest and community market has received the necessary approvals from the St Mary Health Department, the St Mary Municipal Corporation and the St Mary police, who will also be providing capacity control for the venue.

CASFest will engage students and skilled members of the community in competitions, including a primary school jingle competition and nail art design, hairstyle, and make-up application competitions.

Reynolds explained that the CASFest competitions are usually focused on a current event, and as such, COVID-19 safety is the focus for this year.

“The primary school students within that section of the parish will come in to do a jingle on COVID — how you can protect yourself from COVID. For the other competitions, we identified persons throughout the community of Annotto Bay and its environs who would want to participate. Of course, they would have to carry their own equipment and client,” said Reynolds.

“The social distance space will be there for those persons to operate as well. It’s a must that they wear their masks, and, most importantly, we partnered with HEART/NSTA Trust, so persons can be certified in their skill area,” added Reynolds.

The sixth staging of the St Mary CASFest has been twinned with a community market to allow farmers and local economic initiatives (LEIs) to increase customer base and boost the sale of their products.

“We realised that since the pandemic, we have an issue in terms of getting out the produce that the farmers have and so we twinned them. Now persons can come and get their products, whatever they need for their households at a reasonable cost. We are expecting 25 LEIs and 15 local farmers,” said Reynolds.

CASFest and community market will run from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.

– JIS