Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  Face of the Festival (and a body too!) wanted for 2023  Just as this week’s Caribbean Camera was going to press, the Toronto Caribbean Carnival sent out a call for this year’s Face of the Festival.  The carnival is looking for a  Brand Ambassador to represent the Toronto Caribbean Carnival this summer.   “Are you the next Face of the Festival?” asked festival organizers in the first issue of their new Carnival Insider newsletter.  “ If you think you have the passion, energy, and rhythm to represent what the Toronto Caribbean Carnival is all about, we need you! Register for a chance to become the 2023 Face of the Festival.”    “If you believe carnival is LIFE and believe there is no greater joy than jamming down de road with your section, then we are looking for you. Your duties will include event appearances, event hosting, appearing in social media content, and promoting Toronto Carnival to the world!” reads the newsletter article.   ...

  Two Faces For This Year And Next. Lateisha Williams And Celena Suesahai Meet  Lateisha Williams  and  Celena Seusahai , two well-known Toronto Mas Models and longtime Carnival organizers  At an online press conference earlier this week, both women were named the Face of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival Festival –  Ms .  Williams for 2021  and  Ms Seusahai   for 2022 . Lateisha Williams (above and r) For the past eight years the Festival has each year chosen a woman to be the brand ambassador for the annual  Toronto Caribbean Carnival  (some years men have also been chosen to share Face of the Festival duties - but not this time). On Tuesday the Carnival held a press conference online to introduce both this year’s Face of the Festival and next year’s ambassador as well.  Even though the annual summer long weekend Parade has been cancelled for the second year in a row (because of the Covid shutdown), there are still several ...

RAESHA SIROIS  -- 2015’s FACE OF THE FESTIVAL The Face of the Festival Does one have to be born in the West Indies to have Carnival Fever? It certainly cannot hurt! Raesha Sirois, born in St. James, Trinidad, immigrated to Canada in 1970 and grew up in Scarborough, Ontario. Although she enjoyed a Canadian environment and learned to embrace winter out on the slopes with her snowboard, Trinidadian culture was a great part of her upbringing. This included eating her mother’s Creole cooking, listening to Soca, pan and chutney music, and regular month-long trips down to Trinidad to visit relatives in the summer. Raesha played clarinet in the Toronto parang group, La Petite Musicale in the late 80s and joined Silhouettes Steel orchestra to play steel pan in 1994.  She is the only known 9-bass player in Canada to own her own set of pans and currently plays with Pan Fantasy Steel band, led by 2015 Harry Jerome award winner, Wendy Jones. A full-time dental hygieni...