One of St Vincent and the Grenadines’ biggest, most popular and most successful mas bands, Blondie Bird and Friends, will not be catering for the usual estimated 500 masqueraders for the 2026 Vincy Mas season because of a late start in production.
On Saturday, band leader Garth Niles told iWitness News that the band got off to a late start this year because of a lack of operating space.
The challenge resulted in moments of indecision as they mulled over whether it would be practical to produce a mas presentation this year.
“Actually, we’re really late this year in terms of production,” Niles told iWitness News at the Richmond Hill campus of the Thomas Saunders Secondary School, which is slated to be demolished soon for the erection of a new building.
“Normally, Blondie Boyd would be out of the blocks … by January, February. Normally, when you come in, you would see colours (costumes already on display), but because of tent space, that kind of held us back a bit,” he said.
Niles said that because the band did not have space in which to operate, they were “undecided” about whether they would produce a costume band for Vincymas 2026, which runs from July 26 to July 7.
He said they had “a lot of talks” with new culture minister Kaschaka Cupid and East Kingstown MP Dwight Fitzgerald Bramble of the 4-month-old Godwin Friday administration because the Nove. 27 change of government at the polls “kind of shifted the balance in terms of getting tent space and all of that”.
Last year, the St. Vincent Distillers Limited-sponsored Blondie Bird and Friends mas band was housed in the old Ju-c building in Kingstown, which was recently demolished to make way for a new building.
This year, Blondie Bird’s production is titled “Lost In Paradise” and Niles said the later start means the man will lose money as it can cater for fewer masqueraders because of the late start.
“Our quality would be there because we know what we could handle, but just that we would have to cut back. Normally, we would do a band of 500 persons; we might have to cut back to about 350, they say, because of the time constraints,” he told iWitness News.
Niles said that while the mas band is catering for fewer masqueraders this year, it will maintain the eight sections – two children and six adult sections.
Niles explained further that whereas in the past each section had around 50 masqueraders, “we cut it back to like 35 … just because of time constraints”.
He further told iWitness News that the rising cost of costume materials and other items, such as contact cement, has influenced a slight increase in costs for both junior and adult players, adding that costumes will still be affordable.
“They say because of rising costs all over the world, contact cement has gone sky high; the materials out of Trinidad have gone up. So, we stepped up our costs, but not by much; we just added $25. So our adults mas are $800, our kiddies are 225,” Niles said.
He said that despite the increase in prices, the costumes are “very affordable, compared to what we’re really supposed to be selling them for.”
Niles, who is also chairman of the SVG Mas Bands Association, was asked about the recurring challenge of mas producers finding a home every year to do their craft.
The former masquerader who comes from a family spanning at least three generations of carnival participation, said:
“That is a point where you could argue both sides of the fence, because I’ve heard persons saying that the government is not really supposed to help out the mas man because we’re doing business.
“But in the reality of the situation, there is probably only two mas men (producers) in St. Vincent could really afford – I don’t want to call names – but could really afford to pay a rent or to build a home for themselves. But it’s a challenge to the other traditional bands.”
He said the other side of the coin is the mas bands’ contribution to tourism in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, with Vincymas being the country’s biggest cultural festival.
Niles said he would like someone to do a financial study of the amount of money that Vincymas contributes annually to the Vincentian economy from April to July.
He said mas, as a component of Vincymas, is a tourism revenue earner. “So in that vein, … you could justify helping us,” Niles said.
On the matter of the “mobilisation funds”, popularly called “start-up money”, provided by the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC), which gets an annual subvention from the central government, Niles said it “has not come as yet” and “it’s a bit challenging…
“But we are hopeful that we’ll be there to make our contribution to Vincymas 2026,” he said, noting that last year, the mobilisation fund was also late, with bands receiving it in April.
Niles noted that the smaller mas bands “really depend on this mobilisation fund to get them going” and then “hopefully a little sponsorship and a little registration to finish the band”.
He said the sooner that bands receive this startup money, it will help the bands to get going and to “work at a more steady pace”.
Blondie Bird and Friends launched its 2026 mas production on March 21on social media, instead of the usual live launch with costumes because they had yet to get a physical space to commence mas production.
However, despite the late start and financial challenges, Nile was confident that his band would complete a beaver trick this year.
“We are a competition band. Our main aim is to win the Band of the Year; win the individual prizes. We have been successful over the years. Actually, we won the last three Bands of the Year.
“So, if we are successful, let’s say this will be our fourth straight Band of the Year. And we are very, very confident that we are going to win the fourth straight band of the year.”
Find Blondie Bird and Friends on Facebook and on Instagram.
The sections of the band are:
Bird of Paradise; Celestial Paradise; Sunset in Paradise; Tropical Garden; Tropical Fruit Punch; Beach Life; Little Tropics (children); and Summer Festival (children).