The international launch for Saint Lucian Carnival is being held for the fourth year in Miami as part of Miami’s annual Carnival celebration.
Miami Carnival, which started on October 4, culminates on October 12 with the parade of the bands and a concert.
The event is hailed as the biggest West Indian Carnival in North America, drawing participation from the diaspora, carnival followers, stakeholders, and the media. This attraction forms part of the rationale for the international launch of Lucian Carnival in Miami, by the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority (SLTA).
The 2026 International Lucian Carnival launch, as well as Saint Lucia’s presence in Miami over the next few days, will feature something unique to the Lucian Carnival — Dennery Segment.
Tourism officials have brought together three of the best in the genre — Umpa, Mighty, and Blackboy, along with DJ Sir Lancealot. The team will highlight the music and culture which grounds Lucian Carnival.
The official media launch brought together more than 100 attendees — among them travel agents, tour operators, social media influencers, key media partners, and carnival enthusiasts from the diaspora. They were engaged by the high-energy, percussive Dennery Segment genre born in the fishing village of Dennery. Presentations explored the genre’s origins and its evolution into a globally recognised sound.
Speaking at the launch of Briza on the Bay Miami, Saint Lucia’s Consul General in Miami, Darrel Montrope, spoke of the creativity inspired by Saint Lucia’s historical French and English duality.
“The creativity this has inspired allows for a type of synchronism not only in our religious beliefs but also in our music and culture,” Montrope said.
“The Dennery Segment, a musical genre out of Saint Lucia, is a blend not only of English and Kweyol… It establishes that our size is not an inhibitor to our creativity and capacity to contribute to the world. It establishes that, like Julian Alfred, our sprint queen, that we can be among the global best.”
The CEO of the SLTA Louis Lewis was present at the launch and underscored the raison d’être for the event being held in Miami.
“It is really one of the events that we capitalise on that allows us to promote what is unique about Saint Lucia… That allows us to present an attractor and try to get as many people as possible to visit Saint Lucia and participate in our unique blend and brand of Carnival,” Lewis explained.
“What makes ours attractive is that it touches all your senses. So when we say let her inspire you, it touches your senses through the taste of the culinary experiences, it touches the visuals, it touches your hearing with the music, it touches even what we call the sixth sense, the intuition. So, when you hear about it, you will have this feeling of wanting to attend.”
Lewis pointed out that the Dennery Segment was a unique sound, embedded within the orange economy that brings out the history, creativity, resilience, strength, and colourfulness of the Saint Lucian society.
Dexter Percil, director of global marketing at the SLTA shared beautifully curated visuals set to music at the launch. It highlighted elements from Lucian Carnival 2025, drawing rapt applause from the audience.
Speaking to the showcasing of the cultural components of Lucian Carnival, Percil said this was important to the SLTA as it forms part of the country’s identity and history as well as brand when it comes to marketing the destination.
“A lot of what we do as part of the cultural presentation of Carnival is aligned, whether it’s the ole mas, the J’ouvert, the Calypso, the Soca, the Dennery Segment, all these are tied to our history and what we do and it also showcases our art and our creativity as expressions of our culture.”
Chris Gustave, the SLTA’s marketing manager for Caribbean, events, and sports later presented the Lucian Carnival theme video, a call to action for next year’s event.
The video features Umpa, Shemmy J, Nerdy, Sedale, Ezra D’ Fun Machine, and Arthur Allain.
Gustave noted: “Lucian Carnival is more than just a festival, it’s a celebration of our people, our culture, and our creativity, and it is a powerful driver of tourism and economic growth for our island Saint Lucia.”
Before the performances by Mighty, Umpa and Blackboy, the Dennery Segment story was shared through a short documentary as well as an introduction to the genre by Sir Lancealot.
Their energised performances, along with dancers and costumed models brought the audience to their feet, some chairs and dinner tables shifting to make space. This was just a foretaste of what can be expected from the team at some of the Miami Carnival events.
Mighty, who is based in London and produces music year round stated that he was thankful for the opportunity and is looking forward to being in Saint Lucia for carnival 2026.
Before the evening came to a close Thaddeus Antoine, chairman of the SLTA, thanked all the attendees on the night including media representatives, and chair of the Miami Broward One Carnival Committee Joan Hinkson-Justin.
“This evening we saw the Dennery Segment and I have to say that I have never seen it portrayed in this way. I was immensely proud of what was done here this evening and I want to thank the artists and Sir Lancealot in particular for championing Denney Segment,” Antoine said.
Trevor King who worked on the choreography for the night and the SLTA team behind the scenes also received commendation from the chairman for what was hailed as a successful international Lucian Carnival launch.
Lucian Carnival 2026 will be celebrated from July 1–22, 2026.
The destruction of St. Lucian culture