This year’s Feting With The Saints can only be described as opulent and extravagant. The 2023 fete was held on Saturday, 28th January on the CIC greens in St Clair.
The last time I attended Fetting With the Saints, I was 17, on the M-Team, and helping organise the event. Back then, it was held on the school’s compound on Pembroke Street. The most premium thing at that fete was the Häagen Dazs station and liquor behind the bar. I remember tiredly standing on the computer lab balcony watching Maximus Dan entertain on a stage made near the Centenary Hall. Since then, the fete grew from a simple school fundraiser to one of the biggest and most sought-after events of the Carnival Season. Knowing all this, I was still stunned to find out how extravagant this fundraiser became.
Fetting With the Saints is an annual Carnival fete held by the St Mary’s College Alumni Foundation in order to raise funds for the school. The Foundation is the Holy Ghost Fathers’ official NGO that deals with the fundraising and allocations of money for St Mary’s College (CIC). Fetting with the Saints was organised by Joseph Hadad and Roberto Ramirez who co-chaired the fete organising committee. The duo calls themselves Boffo Events. They have been organising this fete for years and have been responsible for it growing into one of the biggest all-inclusive fetes for the season.
The fete’s proceeds will be used to finance projects for the College. Some of the projects the Foundation led include the refurbishment of the Chemistry and Biology labs, and the upgrade of the Centenary Hall.
The question was not what did CIC have, but rather, what didn’t CIC have. Everything from the quality of the decoration, limitless variety of food, a star-studded show that started from 8pm, ended at 1pm and had precious little time in between for breaks. There was no limit to what one could do at Fetting with the Saints. If you were lucky enough to get tickets.
To limit scalping, tickets were available through the Foundation’s committee members and the school. I found it quite amazing that a fete that did not advertise and did not have tickets available online, sold out.
The decor in the fete made me feel like I was in a lavish Nordic enchanted fairyland. The entrance was a magical elvish entrance surrounded by stone walls, illuminated with green and purple lights.
To get into the eating area there was a pathway with enchanted flower lanterns and moko jumbies dressed as trees. The stage was a contrast to the whimsical garden entrance. It was a castle. Adoring the top of the stage was a Viking helmet, or crown, with the Saints printed. Prop engineer Ben Gaya, owner of Creative Design, was the mastermind behind the props. He did an excellent job. Every piece of decor was made to be instagramable.
When I got in, I went straight for the food. There were doubles, roti, wild meat, deer, oxtail, traditional Indian food, traditional fast food, calamari, pork ribs, lamb, crab and dumpling, fried chicken, fried shrimp, sushi, pulled pork, pepper pork, pork in many beautiful forms, steak, kebabs, Singapore noodles, and more. I really could not think of a single food that was not there on the grounds.
There were so many food places spread out on the field that just when I thought I saw all the food places, I walked on the other side and found more. The organisers boasted that Fetting with the Saints does not have a long line for food, but with so many food outlets, it was impossible to have a line. It actually takes great discipline and focus to handle such a magnificent buffet from some of the most gourmet food places in the country.
As I was eating a pork rib, a lovely Nestle lady brought me an Oreo ice cream sandwich. I eagerly said yes, but still had the conundrum of finding the sushi section before eating it. In total, I had Pappy’s fried shrimp, bbq pork ribs, Morevino sushi, half of a melted ice cream sandwich, and slices of steak later that night. I was full, really full. It was with great discipline, that I chose not to eat with my eyes, cause it was so easy to leave overstuffed.
Then there were the bars. Oh, the many many bars. A friend of mine asked me where the bars were, to which my response was, the better question is which booth was not a bar. Each drink had its own bar booth.
Brand activation was on point that night. Before I could decide on a drink, a delicious masquerader put a Tamboo drink in my hand and that was my first drink for the night. Grey Goose had its own bar, as did Guniess. White Oak had its own lounge with green glowing seating and a lolly cart. There was a bubbly bar and a Yellow Tail bar.
I tried a shot of Skrewball peanut butter whiskey, after asking the bartender why on Earth anyone would make peanut butter whiskey. He laughed and served me a shot. It was surprisingly good. I totally understood why Haagen Das was using it as a topping on their ice cream at the fete. It was sweet, peanut buttery and I definitely want to put it in a chocolate milkshake.
Just like the food, when I thought I found all the bars, I noticed the Angostura Swivel and Mai Tai bar, as well as frozen drinks. I’ve never had to walk around multiple places to get drinks, but I think I prefer that to waiting at one crowded bar for drinks. So for anyone throwing a party, a bar treasure hunt is not a bad way to serve drinks.
There were at least two photo booths, a makeup station for ladies, as well as a freshening-up station near the bathrooms. As a perpetual curse on our sex, the ladies’ bathrooms had a bit of a line while the male bathrooms did not. I think I saw a couple promo girls sneak into the men’s room because they could not wait any longer. I didn’t count if there were an equal number of male and female bathrooms, but I would always suggest anyone ordering an additional ladies’ room to help with the long lines. I don’t know why there are scarcely any lines to use the men’s room, but I hope the organisers take note of this for future events.
Fetting with the Saints was also clean. By far the cleanest party I’ve been to in years. Aside for multiple handwashing stations (though some ran out of water and soap fast), there were bathroom attendants who cleaned up as needed. As I ate, people with plastic bags passed around to collect our garbage and there were recycling bins throughout the fete.
With a goal to put the environment first, the Foundation partnered with HADCO Recycling Division, Every Bottle Back TT, Central Equipment Limited and Carib Glass Works collected all recyclable bottles, cans, tetra packs and glass. Most booths had their version of reusable cups and wine flutes. If someone didn’t have a reusable cup they were served with compostable cups. They used products from Hello Green’s Vegeware for plates, cutlery and cups. Tucana Composting Facility and Close the Loop collected and composted all food waste from the event.
It is not a fete without soca performances, and again it was not a question of who was performing at CIC but who wasn’t. The show ran from 8pm to 1pm. People like Aaron St Louis, aka Voice, backed by his new band The Top Five were there. There were guest performances from Allison Hinds, and surprise performances by Destra Garcia and Machel Montano, where Destra almost broke Machel’s back jumping on him. Montano has been a staple in CIC fete for a number of years, and even though he was not a headliner (and I was explicitly told he was not coming) he made a surprise performance, much to the shock of few because many people were expecting Machel there. Again, I am not a fetter, so I deferred to the wisdom of my more experienced fete people who said they were waiting for Machel to come on before they went.
Before Machel and Destra got on stage, the Viking outfit led by Bunji Garlin and Faye Ann Lyons took the stage. The Viking helmet above the stage was quite appropriate for their performance. Bunji sang then Faye Ann sang and so their performance went for the whole set. I was not too keen on that layout, mostly because Bunji and Faye Ann have two different vibes, and by interchanging the singers, the crowd loses the energy it got from the previous singer. Even Faye Ann had to ask the audience why we were more responsive to Bunji than her. Individually both performances were good, but disjointed.
The final act of the night was Kees Dieffenthaller who was lauded on stage as being a St Mary’s alum. I always thought Kes was a Pres man, but just like me, Kes spent his A’level time at CIC.
He put on, as usual, a really fun set that had everyone dancing and singing along. He brought on Iwer George, and sang praises of the school.
The show was hosted by Rome (Jerome Precilla) and Whitney Husbands, both past students of the school. Rome used to host shows at CIC when he was there. I was particularly happy Whitney was hired to host. She was a year ahead of me, and is the only other female CIC alum in the media industry. Every time I see her on stage, I am always happy to think another math brain was able to seamlessly transition in our industry.
There is a special kinship among CIC alumni. I could tell every step of planning was done with us in mind. Because Fetting with the Saints by CIC past students for CIC past students to enjoy. Even walking through the entrance I heard a police officer standing guard saying, “Come on in Amanda.” The only people who know me as Amanda, are the ones who know me from school. I am willing to bet that officer was in school with me during the two years I was there.
While Kes was performing I ended up in the middle of a group of fellas who left the year before I entered CIC. They welcomed me into their group dancing and laughing with me. They also teased me for being a media person without a camera. When I told them I was a writer, they teased me for not taking notes. I told them I didn’t need notes in the middle of a concert, but they harassed me until I took out my phone and they insisted I took a selfie with them. That’s the great thing about CIC fellas, they are miserable, but friendly, kind-hearted and loyal.
As I left the grounds, I could not help but think that this fete was for the Alumni of CIC, and anyone else who attended was quite lucky to share the moment with us. I went to the fete alone, but the last thing I felt was alone. Everywhere I went, I bumped into CIC fellas. There were men in my year, in the years before me, and those who were not with me in school but who I met since I graduated. Fetting with the Saints is both a way for the alumni to come together as a reunion and for us to help support the school that helped to raise us.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post. If you would like to see more stories from me, please support by sharing or buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/raesay2407
Thank you.
Rachael Espinet 
Leave a comment