The main carnival events that used to be held in Freedom Square, Valletta will this March be relocated a few metres away to around the Triton fountain, just outside City Gate.

The president of the Carnival Participants Association, Jason Busuttil, said the enclosure would be set up between the fountain and the area known as Tal-Biskuttin where the statue of Christ the King is situated. The roads on each side of the garden leading to Valletta will be closed to traffic.

The defilé will proceed down Merchants Street, past St John’s Co-Cathedral, up Republic Street and through City Gate to the Triton fountain.

The floats would park around the fountain and buses could be relocated to the Floriana Granaries as works on the new bus terminus in St James Ditch continue, Mr Busuttil said.

Tuesday’s traditional grand finale along St Anne Street will be replicated on Sunday March 6. Carnival will be held from March 4 to 8.

Mr Busuttil said he was sure carnival this year would be another huge success, however, storage issues remained the association’s main headache.

The former quarters of the Water Services Corporation in Floriana, Albert Town in Marsa and St Elmo in Valletta are used by float builders. Floats have been stored in St Elmo for more than 30 years but the proposed regeneration plans for the place did not provide for any storage space for carnival floats, Mr Busuttil said.

He said factories that had closed down in Marsa could serve as inexpensive storage.

Out of the 27 members of the association, 11 that store their floats in Fort St Elmo will have to vacate the premises and still have to find an alternative place.

Carnival float builders start preparing for the following edition as soon as the annual celebrations are over, especially since three quarters of them take part in the summer grand carnival.

The first summer carnival was held in Buġibba last August and was organised by the St Paul’s Bay local council and Catwalk Productions.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.