A pirate “captures” a Red Coat during the annual landing
(CNS): The 38th annual Pirates Week festival kicks off tonight (Thursday, 12 November) with the CUC Pan in de City steel pan competition and a launch party with live music. A full calendar of events follows, but things begin at 7pm today with steel pan performances on the harbour front. The first party of the 10-day festival runs from 9pm-2am and will feature a live band and a DJ providing the music.
Over the course of the festival, there will be plenty on offer to satisfy everyone’s tastes, from the ever-popular pirates’ invasion in Hog Sty Bay followed by a float parade, to annual favourites like the steel pan competition and cardboard boat race, teen dance parties, sporting events, district heritage days and the highly anticipated food festivals.
“Pirates Week is an event for everyone, it’s not something that is just designed to facilitate a certain group of people; we want to reach every demographic in the Cayman Islands,” said Melanie McField, Pirates Week executive director.
Some of the other items on the events calendar for Grand Cayman include the Festival Queen costume competition, an underwater treasure hunt and a children’s fun fair day, which caters to more than 600 kids each year.
Dancers entertaining during the parade
One of the two new events planned for this year is set to light up the capital, a night parade called “Illumination”, at which competitors will get a second opportunity to show off their intricate float designs through twinkling lights or glow-in-the-dark paint.
“A lot of people put a lot of time and effort into constructing these floats and this gives them another opportunity to showcase them but in a totally different way,” McField said.
The other addition is the “Pirate Pooch Parade”, which McField hopes will attract the furriest of participants to this year’s festivities. Costumes for pets and their owners are on sale at the Pirates Week Offices on Shedden Road.
She added that official 2015 Pirates Week T-shirts are on sale with a discount available to corporations who purchase at least 25 shirts for their staff.
“Nowhere else in the Caribbean can you do this, nowhere else can you dress up for a fantasy pirate festival for more than a week, where we also get to showcase our history, our food, our musicians,” McField said.
The festival will also play host to the “Bajan Invasion” fete, which will feature soca artists from Barbados, including Lead Pipe, Saddis and Edwin Yearwood alongside local musicians Stuart Wilson, Olujimi La Pierre, Andrea Rivera, Vashti Bodden and Johnathan Ebanks.
Back again this year is the “Pirate Star” hosted by Cayman’s Grammy award-winning producer, Jason Gilbert, and Dane Ramoon of Star 92.7. The singing showcase will highlight up-and-coming local performers vying for the chance to be signed to a record label.
Another musical treat for more mature audiences will feature Jamaican greats, Pluto Shervington and Ernie Smith, and Trinidad’s Denise Belfon.
“Pirates Week, as the biggest event on island, showcases more local talent than any other event and I think it’s important to continue to push home what we already have and to support our own,” McField said.
Some of that talent will also be on display in Saturday’s (14 November) pre-landing event, where local watersports professionals from Fat Fish Adventures will be performing alongside international acrobatic performers and other stunt men.
“There’s all sorts of entertainment to look forward to on land and in the water,” McField added.
For a full calendar of events go to the Pirates Week website or Facebook page
As a GT business owner I hate pirates week like a contagious rash. We lose money hand over fist, and our staff have their hours cut to next to nothing. This year was especially annoying with Harbour drive needlessly closed from fricking Wednesday night?! There were two, count ’em, two guys putting up the stage on Harbour Drive Thursday morning, and they didn’t even start until 9 am. So, we screw up the lives of 50,000 people so we can erect a stage? Put the stage on f-ing Cardindall Ave, and keep Harbour open. Duh.
This event is as stale as an hyena’s breath after a night on the tiles. During the week, there is a huge disruption to traffic and litter absolutely everywhere. It is a bloody nuisance.
It’s about time we dropped the dumb pirates for more positive role models.
Come on Cayman, do we have any real heritage left? Perhaps we should ask some of our living “heroes”?
The information is sparse. When and where is the live music. Who is playing when?
Aha Jim Lad! Don’t stop just with kidnapping the governor, do us all a favor, carry on to the LA and don’t stop until you get them all!!!!
This doesn’t exactly seem to be packing the tourists in. I just checked online and found plenty of room availability. There are even some price reductions next week. Makes you wonder if PW is all getting a bit stale doesn’t it?
Ritz is full, and most restaurants were last night. More people staying in Condos perhaps? Cheaper than hotels, especially if with families.
This has become a really tawdry event and the photos always seem to reveal that only foreigners dress up in silly costumes and take part in this childish foolishness. I suppose it gives a day or two’s employment to some not very strong Caymanian musicians but otherwise we still bring in the old timers from Jamaica (Caymanian heritage anyone!!??) Ernie Smith and Pluto Shervington who were popular in Jamaica 45-yes-years ago. Melanie McField used to work in the Finance Portfolio. How can such a bright person be employed year round to produce this mess for just a week? Oh well. Must rush off and buy my pirate pooch costume for my dog. Seriously, Melanie??
It’s supposed to be silly and tawdry. What’s so wrong with foreigners dressing up and acting stupid? Why does this offend you? And why is Cayman Mardi Gras on Ash Wednesday? So many questions…