AFTER a two-year hiatus due to the novel coronavirus, carnival in Jamaica is finally returning.

Michael Ammar Jr, co-director of Bacchanal Jamaica, says the list of summer events will kick off Jamaica’s 60th Independence celebrations.

“Bacchanal is starting our summer carnival events, with ‘Rum For Breakfast’ on June 25. Saturday, July 2, we will be having (Bacchanal) Premium, and J’Ouvert is on the 8th of July,” he revealed to the Jamaica Observer.

“We are fully ready. We have everything. The only reason we’re not trying to go for April is because we have to give overseas clients time for hotel and flight reservations,” he explained.

During his contribution to the 2022/2023 Budget Debate in Parliament last Thursday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that, effective March 18, Jamaica’s entertainment industry would be fully reopened.

Ammar Jr further said the industry was reopened at a most convenient time.

“From an economic point of view, the reopening for the most part is for pre-Easter events. Patrons will come out of Easter, and go into Labour Day weekend, and straight into summer carnival…Then Sumfest, Dream Weekend and Emancipation and Independence. So, carnival is the first major celebration for the summer and this diamond Independence,” he added.

Costumes purchased for the 2020 carnival season are eligible for this year. According to Ammar Jr, they are still in excellent condition.

“Costumes wouldn’t be distributed till the week of carnival. If you give them too early, they get damaged. They are still in the original cartons and ready to be taken out and assembled. The feathers are brand new from Miami. The backpacks are made of metals, and we would go through and check all of them to make sure everything is intact. Nobody will be getting any second-hand costume,” the co-director assured.

Meanwhile, Kamal Bankay, chairman of Dream Entertainment and member of the Entertainment Advisory Board, said an announcement will be made in short order about the date for road march.

“We, the stakeholders, had a meeting and we’re deliberating on a few options that would be viable. Anybody can plan a road march for any time of the year, but we had a stakeholders’ meeting and I will be making an official announcement soon about the date we decide on,” he told the Observer.

The last staging of the Carnival Road March was the most successful, according to Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett in an interview with this newspaper.