The day began with whistle stops moving from the eastern and western sides of the country, gaining momentum on its way to the city and concluded with an official ceremony there.

Addresses came from chairman of the CDC Denise Ambrose, Minister of Culture Rene Baptiste and sponsors of the summer festival.

Ambrosed encourage citizens to support carnival activities in the rural communities while the tourism minister spoke of her ministry’s successes in marketing the festival overseas, including on in-flight programmes on international airlines.

The event saw the staging of the Best New Song competition in the calypso and soca categories and the first public appearance of the Miss SVG 2006 pageant.

But, while thousands crowed the capital to witness the launch, local police last week promised a “higher level” of security during the carnival, which will be held under the theme “Super Mas, Super Jamz, Super Mix”.

“If you conform with the regulations, you conform with the law, you conform with what is expected, we would not have any enforcement to do, we wouldn’t suddenly become your enemy,” Assistant Commissioner of Police Ronald Christopher said last week.

“We are here to work together to ensure Vincy Mas is safe for all of us,” he added.