The calabar carnival festival is here. Climate change is this year's theme. Calabar carnival is Africa's biggest street party. That somehow sounds decadent and frivolous doesn't it? But, the carnival is a lot of things rolled into one. It's an opportunity for people to relax, de-stress(I think that should be a word), learn about culture: dances, songs, art etc. It's an avenue for entrepreneurs to make that clean out sales they've longed for for the whole year because Christmas holiday comes with shopping and shopping is done well in a relaxed, music in the background, happy people everywhere, all kinds of foods and drinks environment like the Christmas village. Business is usually good as a trader who came from Lagos told me yesterday. The Christmas village is kind of like trade fair. It used to be at the cultural centre but a new place was built for it at Calabar Municipality. Here you find anything and everything all in one space, from exotic dishes down to artwork, games, joyrides down to the weirdest boutique and of course, there are also those one of a kind products, services and deals that you can only find at the Christmas village. My only disappointment is why any of the banks have not thought it wise to put an ATM there. I mean where there is holiday shopping, people are bound to spend more than they have and will always need extra cash. There are so many diverse activities lined up for the 31days of the carnival that one can be accused of having too much fun. From food festival, sports festivals, talent shows, beauty pageant, cultural parades, festival of carols, free A list shows: Shows that on a normal day will attract tables of N10 million and the likes are absolutely free. Imagine going to a show where the legend himself Tubaba( Tuface idibia), P square etc are performing live and it's all absolutely free. That is Calabar carnival. And the city of Calabar itself omg! Beautiful just beautiful. The people welcoming and gracious hosts. There's still a lot to be done though. I daresay that when Donald Duke as governor of Cross River state in 2004 started the carnival he had taller dreams than these. The speed of development of the dream of making Calabar The tourist attraction of Africa has kind of slowed. Nonetheless; I am glad that at least subsequent government have been able to look past their own immediate politics to see the bigger picture.
