Christmas at the castle

By Christopher Tobutt

Christmas at the Castle – A Celebration Under the Stars was a great evening of free entertainment, including lots of singing and dancing, raffle-tickets, and Santa for the whole family at Pedro St. James Castle. It was put on by the wonderful people of the Tourism Attraction Board as well as the management and staff of Pedro St. James.

Hundreds of people were there, and went around to all the food vendors who were selling delicious traditional Caymanian food, as well as some the night’s MC, Woody DaCosta, introduced each of the musicians and singers and dancers. There was a five-dollar raffle, with some lovely prizes which were drawn during the evening with all of the proceeds going to make the Castle more wheel-chair accessible, so that much of the evening was taken up with all the excitement around drawing numbers out of boxes, and announcements to the lucky winners. Members of Parliament Anthony Eden and Minister of Culture Hon Dwayne Seymour were there, along with Deputy Governor, Franz Manderson were asked to draw the winning number raffle tickets.

Director of the Tourism Attraction Board, Patrick Thompson said the opening prayer, and encouraged everyone to keep the Cayman tradition of always starting every event and new project with a prayer.

The UCCI Dancers and The Company charmed the starry night with their starry dancing to a medley of songs, from slow and evocative to fast-paced numbers full of the rhythms of the Caribbean. There was also a lovely dance about giving your life to Jesus from the Child Evangelism Fellowship Good News Club and another wonderful Christmas dance medley from the Radiant Dance Studio.

It was beginning to feel a lot like Christmas by the time Santa appeared, right next to Miss Cayman Islands, Mariah Tibbetts to help draw some more raffle tickets and present more wonderful prizes. Then it was time for all the children to come onstage with Santa, for the big Christmas-tree countdown. Children always love the magic of when the tree, right in front of Pedro Castle, lights up, and they love it even more if they take part in it. There was more singing from Michelle T and her lovely, soulful voice, as well as from Country music icon Dexter Bodden, who sang a ballad about missing his father, as well as a surprise Christmas song from Coca Cola Brand Manager Dario Rivers, who also had another job to do.

This year there was a great big surprise in store from Coca Cola, who this year were one of the main sponsors of the event. All the Members of Parliament, including Anthony Eden, Hon Dwayne Seymour, Captain Eugene, along with Deputy Governor Hon Franz Manderson were invited onstage for something to really make Cayman proud: the unveiling of a special Coca Cola can especially for the Cayman Islands. Right over the front of the can was emblazoned the Cayman Islands Coat of Arms.

The evening finished with a wonderful rendition of Cayman-style Christmas songs and carols, from the Cayman Island Folk Singers who graced the stage all in traditional dress. Well, it was Christmas at the Castle. What else would you expect?