With the Anguilla Summer Festival due to commence towards the end of this month, The Valley Community Troupe is off to an extremely good start having been presented with a cheque for US$10,000 by Crocus Bay Development, a neighbourhood villa project.

L-R: Andrea Lloyd, Curthley Carty and Montvel-Cohen

The platinum sponsorship cheque was presented to Curthley (Roy) Carty, President of the troupe for the past twelve years, at the Landsome Bowl Cultural Centre on Tuesday this week. The presentation was made by Tom Montvel-Cohen, a principal with the tourism company building the environmentally friendly project featuring modern Caribbean architecture.

“We really want to be good neighbours and part of the community and we participate in a number of ways,” Mr. Montvel-Cohen told The Anguillian. “One of our partners, Dominic Vitucci, has been very involved in the Police Department here also. He was a first responder at the World Trade Center and he has been particularly working with Deputy Commissioner Richardson on some of the equipment needs of the police. We are here for the long haul and we really want to be part of the community.”

Mr. Montvel-Cohen said he had enjoyed the calypso competition, part of the carnival, while visiting Anguilla several years ago and was looking forward to attending some of the events again. “I like the theme of the troupe a lot, and we are happy to participate, and I am sure everybody will have a great time,” the developer added.

The Valley Community Troupe President expressed thanks to Crocus Bay Development for its sponsorship. “Seeing that we are in the same community, the company’s sponsorship is greatly appreciated,” he stated. Carty said that this year, like previous years, his group would be entering a troupe called “Kings and Queens of Cultivation”, showcasing colourful costumes depicting the importance of land and local agricultural produce in the development of the island.

“We realise that in Anguilla there are a number of young farmers going back to the land and would just like to depict that throughout the Summer Festival, and mindful that we came from the soil and one day we will have to return there,” he went on. Carty explained that such produce like pumpkins, seasoning bell peppers, egg plant and carrots would form part of the fully orange costumes especially in the head pieces. “We are going bring back the farmers which we started out with in 1998 and we are going to bring back the local bananas as well,” he added.

Carty said that this year there would be a maximum of 125 persons in the troupe involving mid-teenagers and adults. The costumes will feature mixed colours of orange, yellow, red, purple, green and brown. In addition to the welcome donation from Crocus Bay Development, registration fees will be collected from troupe members to assist in financing their participation in the coming Parade of Troupes. The Valley Community Troupe has been a big winner over the years.

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