General News

Local artist Grace Ashruf held a succesfull one-woman Art Exhibition ‘Destination’ in October last year for two weeks in the old Toyota Building (sponsored by Garage Cordia) at the LG Smith Blvd 114, with a collection of 30 large paintings. Many of these artworks went to local and international collectors of contemporary art.

Grace generously promised again to donate a percentage of sales, this time to Children’s home Casa Cuna in Aruba. Recently, Corina Linssen, Director of the home, accepted a generous check from the artist in presence of Astrid Muller. Casa Cuna surprised the artist Grace Ashruf with a beautiful thank you painting, created with colorfull prints of the little hands and feet of all the children residing in Casa Cuna. In 2009 Grace donated in the same way part of her proceeds to Kinderhuis Imeldahof. One of her art collectors added an extra amount to the donation, Just like in 2009,

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Minister of Tourism, Transport & Labor, Otmar Oduber, was joined by staffers of the Aruba Tourism Authority, ATA, and the Department of Public Works, DOW, in the formal introduction of the new canopies provided by the government which will be used during Carnival time, instead of the usual trailers put up by those who have won a place on L.G. Boulevard during the annual lottery.

Presently, the Department of Public Works is working steadily to complete the first phase of the Linear Park and the trailers would provide a serious impediment to their efforts. The government has obtained 121 sturdy and spacious canopies located along L. G. Smith Boulevard which lottery winners can rent for the remainder of the Carnival season.

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On Saturday evening, February 4, the crucial carnival event of the selection of the Roadmarch and Calypso King (or Queen) was conducted at the Joe Laveist Ballpark in San Nicolas. 32 singers and 9 bands presented originally composed music which typifies the sound of the Caribbean.

The Roadmarch will become the primary piece of music heard along parade routes throughout the remainder of Carnival 58, while the Calypso, a mix of political and social rhetoric (often scathing criticism and frequently humorous), will take its place among the annals of immortal island songs.

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If any event would be compared to the Miss America pageant, it would be the annual selection of the reigning Carnival queen.

There are four age ranges of Carnival queens, and on Friday evening, February 3, Aruba’s Youth Queen (Hubenil) and Children’s Queen, (Infantil) were selected to reign over Carnival 58.

In a flurry of flounces and cascades of confetti, the young entries displayed their inexhaustible carnival spirit, dan­cing and prancing for hours before packed house at the Aruba Entertainment Center, as well as the panel of judges.

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Aruba’s archeological team of the National Archeological Museum of Aruba, has uncovered a sixth grave in Santa Cruz. Based on certain characteristics, they have concluded that this must be a prehistoric graveyard. In the opinion of the team, what makes this discovery unique is not only that it was previously unknown, but that they were able to identify that there were several persons buried at different levels of importance buried at the site and buried in different ways. It is also interesting that the persons buried have different European characteristics as well as Amerindian; but there were no Caquetios in this find.

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The office of Notary Yarzagaray-Bodeker & Partners, had just completed the total renovation and restoration of L.G. Smith 12, a historical building, originally the political headquarters of Juancho Yrausquin and later, for many years, the home of Miles Administration, owned by the late hotelier Ike Cohen.

Notary Yarzagaray who purchased the building from Cohen spearheaded the project of renovation and restoration studying Antillean architecture and collecting information regarding the efforts made in Scharloo, Willemstad, Curacao.

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On Friday evening, January 27, Aruba’s Minister of Social & Economic Affairs and Culture placed the crown on the head of Exina Kock, who will now reign during the remaining events of Carnival 58 as the 18th Señora Carnival. This was the first of 3 Queen elections, the next to be elected are the Children’s and Youth Queens, and finally, in the last weeks of revelry, the Grand Carnival Queen. These spirited “beauty” pageants also award their winners for Best Speech, Best Show and Best Costume, with originality and authentic carnival spirit deciding factors.

Exina, representing Aruba HOG – the Harley Davidson Club, was decidedly elegant and will be a most appropriate Señora Carnival as she presented a gracious and delighted demeanor when being singled out by this year’s Prince and Pancho.

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De Palm Island was busy this past weekend training its nine water staff members in water-rescue procedures. A whole day event, Amy Spagnola, the Safety Officer for De Palm Tours, headed the training by implementing drills on assisting active and inactive victims in the water.

A rescue tool new to the island, the foam-composite, eleven-foot long surf board with three handles on each side is not only used to assist victims of injury in the water, but it is also taken on the guided snorkel trips the island provides guests for anyone who may become tired and in need of a break.

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Earlier this week, the Westin Resort & Casino, Aruba hosted a Social Media Boot Camp initiated by the Aruba Tourism Authority. In attendance were executives of many of Aruba’s tourism partners, all there to learn how to successfully navigate the social media scene, and optimize communication and engagement with their clients to ultimately better serve them. The full-day workshop, held in Westin’s Grand Palm Beach Ballroom, was presented by the Pulse Point Group from Austin, Texas, and was led by digital and social media and marketing expert Jeff Hunt and his team, including Brittany Aguilar, Bill Fieldman, and Jacklyn Allgayer.

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