With the approaching Anguilla Summer Festival, the newly-appointed Chairman, Mr. John Benjamin, and his working committee, are achieving much success in organising the various events and raising funds.
One of the big events of the Summer Festival will be the August Monday Beach Party at Sandy Ground, which requires funding up to US$160,000 from various sources.
The money has already begun to come in with the signing of a US$40,000 contract by Mr. Benjamin and Mr. Lenny Baines of International Liquor & Tobacco Trading based in St. Maarten and represented in Anguilla by Tropical Distributors. The contract was witnessed by Mr. Fitzroy Tomlinson, a member of the Anguilla Festival Committee. Both of the above companies are using the brands Heineken and Mount Gay to sponsor the August Monday Beach Party.
Mr. Benjamin said that for him the signing of the contract was a happy occasion, having known some of the contributing parties for up to twenty years. “This is the first time that we are doing an official contract with a sponsor,” he continued. “In the past, it has always been verbal. We are happy that we are looking forward to a two-year contract in the first instance, and hopefully for five years in the long run; and we appreciate the sponsors – Heineken and Mount Gay. They have been here for a long time and they are coming back on a new footing which can only take our carnival to new and higher heights.”
The signing ceremony, on Thursday, June 11, was held during a press conference at Hannah-Waver House, Mr. Benjamin’s Caribbean Juris Chambers. Asked to comment further on the contract, Mr. Benjamin stated: “In terms of cash, it is forty thousand US dollars per year. That is eighty thousand for two years, and if the contract goes on for five years, it will be up to two hundred thousand dollars. But for this year it is forty thousand dollars plus the sponsors are doing other things. They are helping us to promote [the August Monday Beach Party] in St. Maarten and overseas. So although the contract is for forty thousand dollars in cash, it is much bigger and wider than that. I think that later on Tropical Distributors will also be on board and we will know exactly where we are going.”
Speaking on behalf of International Liquor & Tobacco Trading, specifically for Heineken and Mount Gay, Mr. Lenny Baines said in part: “August Monday in Anguilla is something that we hold very dear in St. Maarten…We think it is going to be the biggest and the best in the history of August Monday, and we are looking forward to everybody coming out and having a really good time.”
