Kingston, Jamaica — Andrew Bellamy, managing director of YardMas Carnival and Scott Dunn, managing director, Xodus are not only revved up for Carnival Day 2023, but are also happy to be partnering with Campari to provide what they hope will be the biggest and best Jamaica Carnival experience.

In a release on Thursday, the bands which are considered two of Jamaica’s biggest players in the industry, revealed that in keeping with their vow to provide the best feting experience, they will be hosting the first staging of Campari Boulevard in New Kingston on Road March Day, Sunday, April 16. The unique addition to the Carnival line-up will see revelers jumping with both bands being afforded the opportunity to benefit from fetting zones, viewing decks, numerous Campari bars, charging stations, portable coolers, larger than life photo experiences and several performances from the best including Campari’s brand ambassador, Aidonia.

The partnership announcement between Campari, YardMas and Xodus was made at the launch of Campari Carnival on February 28 at the offices of J Wray & Nephew Ltd in New Kingston.

At the launch event, Bellamy and Scott pointed out that the losses incurred throughout the pandemic from the postponement of Carnival in Jamaica, taught the bands that togetherness and cooperation will result in them being revived to what it once was, and the original vision created for Carnival in Jamaica.

“In 2017, we both launched two massive bands and there was a lot of friendly rivalry locally, regionally [and] internationally, and the buy-in product of that competition actually caused the Carnival in Jamaica product to explode and grow exponentially,” Bellamy said.

He continued, “we grew to almost 10,000+ people on the road in 2019, and 50,000 people watching and almost $5 billion in revenue in 2019 for the Government or for the country, and then we’re planning for a huge 2020 and COVID-19 hit us. It really desolated and destroyed the entertainment industry, and more importantly, in this sector it hurt and destroyed the Carnival in Jamaica product.”

Bellamy also stated that of the entire Caribbean region, Jamaica was affected the most from the shutdown of Carnival in 2020, given that the country was at the finish line for that year’s staging of the event, when restrictions from the Disaster Risk Management Act were imposed.

For his part, Scott Dunn said it is amazing that Campari conceptualized and pulled off the Campari Carnival launch and brought the bands together for 2023.

“Certainly, unity in the Carnival space, particularly coming out of COVID, I think is very important. If you know the history of Dream Entertainment, it was formed by putting together a number of promoters to do Dream Weekend. We got into the Carnival space as a partnership between Dream and Yuma from Trinidad, so it’s not something that’s unfamiliar to us. We’ve always grown through partnerships,” Dunn said.

Pavel Smith, marketing manager at J Wray & Nephew Limited says the company is elated that they were able to foster a three-year partnership with both bands.

“Carnival in Jamaica is all about togetherness, a fun-filled time and customer satisfaction for the revelers, some of whom have traveled thousands of miles from across the world to celebrate with us, and there was no better way for the Campari brand to give back to our customers at Carnival, than partnering with the largest forces, Xodus and YardMas Carnival,” Smith said.

“We know Carnival Sunday will be an amazing one-of-a-kind experience for revelers, especially those who jump with Campari mixed drink specials in hand and those who come to the Campari Boulevard to witness the grand performance by our Campari Respect The Bitter Ambassador, Aidonia,” he added.