A massive turnout of patrons converged on Ocean Boulevard in downtown Kingston Saturday night to soak up high-energy soca music and more at Fete Republic’s Night Carnival.

Patrons ‘got on bad’ to the latest soca treats, with a few dancehall and hip hop vibes thrown in for good measure. Even motor vehicles lined along the roadway came under soca assault as patrons gyrated and danced in full party mode.

Among the major highlights from the presentation were the mini road march, which made its way from Ocean Boulevard to Harbour Street, as well as the vibes created by DJs, including Trinidad’s Travis World and Aaron Fingal, and Jamaica’s very own Bloodline Franco, Coppershot, DJ Neko, Lantern MD, Sound Revolution, Matt Camps, Nxt Gen, Atom Force, Brush1 the Road Marshall, King Nando, and Fyahmatic.

Pavel Smith, marketing manager at J Wray & Nephew Limited, which distributes Campari, said: “We wanted to partner with Fete Republic Jamaica to bring another significant night carnival event a week before the staging of Jamaica Carnival’s road parade,” said Smith.

He continued: “Fete Republic Jamaica has a unique party offering for soca lovers and others… Additionally, no real party experience is successful without great drink specials, so Campari wanted to ensure our patrons were able to try world leading aperitif… which revellers enjoyed throughout the night.”

Smith stated that the brand hopes to serve local socaphiles as well as tourist coming in for the festivities, “For 2023, under our Respect the Bitter campaign, we realised the opportunity to increase our customer satisfaction and offerings, which resulted in us fostering a new, unique and different partnership with Jamaica’s two major bands, YardMas and Xodus, so that revellers who choose to jump with either band can benefit equally from all we aim to offer on Carnival Day.

“This has also led and motivated us to develop and launch an initiative for this carnival season called the ‘King of Carnival’ where we are positioning the Campari brand as the King of the Carnival experience in Jamaica,” he said.

The Carnival season is expected to be a boon for the whole commerce ecosystem of small and medium-sized businesses, designers, dressmakers, food vendors, bartenders, caterers, security personnel, drivers, and many other professionals.