St.Maarten Carnival 2008 - April 17th - May 3rd

The word comes from the French saying "jour ouvert" or morning open and in the Caribbean it is considered the largest street party for any carnival celebration. But in St. Maarten it has the unique twist as it centres on "the Great Salt Pond." Traditionally the St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation hosts specific soca and calypso related events on stage at Carnival Village with the intention of "warming up" revellers for the round the pond jam. What is also true for this time of year is that revellers generally start lining the streets by the hundreds around 3:00am, some of whom would have just awoken from their sleep in preparation for the event.

Then with the start of the music from bands hoisted on trailers, the crowd of literally thousands, set off down the Walter Nisbeth Road from the Carnival Village. By day break you would see the creative dress of many who make personal costumes to add flavour to the celebration. And as is customary, everyone are in an exceptional jolly mood, drinking and having fun, till the sun comes up and its back to the Carnival Village where the celebration ends. J'ouvert (pronounced 'joovay' locally) involves calypso and soca bands and their followers dancing to different rhythms.

In 2005 the route was reversed with the parade heading through Sucker Garden to over the bank to Illidge road back to the village. This will be the route again for Carnival 2008.

Behind the scenes police and the fire department inspect all motor vehicles and drivers to ensure that they pass all the required traffic specifications and all drivers are monitored throughout the celebration for drinking. The amount of people on the trailers / band trucks where the bands play, are also monitored throughout the routes. Because of the high emphasis on safety, none compliance with the rules will result in immediate removal of motorists and motor vehicles.