Hundreds of "Yumans" gathered at Drew Manor, Santa Cruz, for the launch of YUMA Vibe's 2023 presentation: Awakened Treasure. It is one of the early band launchings to take place in anticipation of a Carnival 2023.

The event took place on Saturday and ran into the early morning of Sunday. The launch ended at 4 am.

The large band presented 12 sections with names such as Drip, Emerald City, Aura, RII Dung and Frenzy. YUMA first launched in 2010. The band will also be participating in St Lucia, Jamaica and Grenada's carnivals as well as other international carnivals and events.

One of its directors, Tanya Gomes said Awakened Treasure is about re-awakening the Carnival spirit.

She added that the band is "more than ready for the streets to come alive again because for two years, we have gone without our beloved mas."

Gomes said the band's "Yumans" never lost faith in the brand and that had them there on Saturday.

In a June 17 interview at its Tragarete Road mas camp, Gomes also spoke to some of the issues the band faced in preparing for its launch and a Carnival 2023.

[caption id="attachment_961982" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Models for the section Drip show off YUMA's 2023 presentation of Awakened Treasure at its band launch at Drew Manor, Santa Cruz. - Photo by Ayanna Kinsale[/caption]

She said, "Surviving for two years was one where, mentally, it was extremely challenging and financially, it would have taken a strain because revenue was not generating.

"Then we would have made investments outside of TT, so the return on investment was also in question."

However, the band made changes and rallied, she said.

She said by all indicators Carnival 2023 is on although the Government has not given official word.

Speaking to changes with staff and the band, Gomes said, "Whatever we would have envisioned two years ago is not 100 per cent applicable two years later."

Then asked what she planned to do about people still unsure of attending events, Gomes said people were back out given the level of attendance at events.

She said it was up to people and the only thing the band could do was put its best foot forward and hope people come out to play mas.

Gomes , like other band leaders, said there was greater shipping costs because of supply-chain disruptions caused by the pandemic and the Russia/Ukraine War.

She said bands were able to get material, but the timeframe took a little longer.

Launching early allowed the band to capitalise on the ordering of raw materials in advance so the supply-chain issues, hopefully, does not affect it, she added.

But even then there is still uncertainty. She said the band was trying to stay within its usual price range, if not, go a little lower.

Even though, when the gates opened at 10 pm, there was only a handful of people, the crowd slowly built at the launch on Saturday night.

DJs took the crowd through some of TT's most recent soca hits and some of its classics. Many of the predominantly young - between 18 to 35 - sang robustly when the DJ played D