OUR STORY
Made in Trinidad. Worn by the people.
Showtime Carnival is a Port of Spain mas band that builds every costume on home soil and prices it so the people who make Carnival can still play it.
WATCH
What goes into your costume
Three minutes up close with a Showtime costume: the wire frames, the feathers and stones, the fit and the finish. This is what bespoke means when it is made by hand in Port of Spain, and why the costume that ends up in your hands is worth more than its price. Tap play.
FROM OUR CEO
The Showtime Carnival success story
Against a backdrop of mass-manufactured, imported mas, Showtime Carnival chose a different path for its presentations. Our leadership team made a deliberate, audacious commitment: keep production entirely on home soil and empower local artisans, wire-benders, seamstresses and craftspeople.
In workshops filled with the hum of sewing machines and the vibrant hues of paradise feathers, local hands meticulously brought each section to life. Master crafters passed their delicate techniques to a younger generation, turning the mas camp into a thriving hub of skill-sharing, employment and community pride. Every bead glued, frame bent and accent stitched represented a direct investment back into local households and neighbourhoods.
When launch night arrived at the National Academy for the Performing Arts, the stage exploded with vibrant, authentic art. On Carnival Monday and Tuesday, revelers do not just wear costumes; they carry the craftsmanship, sweat and soul of their own people onto the road. Showtime Carnival proved that home-grown labour and local talent could deliver world-class elegance, setting a bold standard for economic empowerment and cultural integrity in Carnival.
Crucially, we refused to price out the very culture bearers who create the celebration. Recognising that soaring costume prices had turned Carnival into an exclusive luxury, we introduced accessible, tiered payment plans and fair pricing structures tailored to the average masquerader. By cutting out expensive foreign production markups, we redirected the savings straight to the masquerader. The result is a movement where nurses, teachers and tradespeople chip away at manageable monthly instalments, proving that elite, show-stopping mas can remain fundamentally democratic and truly owned by the people on the road.
We are Trinidad and Tobago.
Godfrey Enile
Leadership, Showtime Carnival Mas Band
- On the road20+ yearsCarnival Monday and Tuesday, every year
- Each season3,000 masqueradersacross every section of Take Off 2027
- Production100% localdesigned, bent, stitched and glued in Trinidad
- Mas Camp51 French StreetPort of Spain, open Tuesday to Saturday
CRAFTSMANSHIP
We chose home soil
Every Showtime costume is made in Port of Spain, by hand, by people who live in the same neighbourhoods as the masqueraders who will wear it.
Wire-benders shape the frames, seamstresses cut and fit the bodywear, decorators set every stone and feather. Nothing arrives in a container ready-made.
That is not the cheapest way to make a costume. It is the only way we know to make one that carries something of the place it comes from.
THE MAS CAMP
A workshop, a classroom, a livelihood
The mas camp at 51 French Street is more than an address. It is where master crafters pass their techniques to a younger generation, so that skills which took decades to learn are not lost when one pair of hands retires.
When you register with Showtime, part of what you pay goes to a wire-bender or a seamstress a few streets from the camp, not to a factory overseas.
A MOMENT IN OUR STORY · JULY 2023
Sharing our Carnival with the world
On 5 July 2023, Showtime Mas Band manager Godfrey Enile met then–U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the HADCO Phase II Pan Groove pan yard in Port of Spain. Alongside U.S. Ambassador Candace Bond and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, they shared a moment with Showtime’s Carnival costumes.
For Showtime, it was a chance to share the artistry, colour and community behind Trinidad and Tobago’s mas.
IN THE NEWS
The US Ambassador came to see for herself
In January 2023, United States Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago Candace Bond visited the Showtime mas camp to learn how mas is made and where it comes from. The visit was reported by CNC3 Television, with video from the US Embassy.
“Ambassador Candace Bond is ‘ready for d’ road’ on Carnival Monday and Tuesday!”— US Embassy, Port of Spain, January 2023
Watch the CNC3 report on Facebook ↗LAUNCH NIGHT TO THE ROAD
Art you carry with you
At the band launch at the National Academy for the Performing Arts, every piece on that stage was made a few streets away. On Carnival Monday and Tuesday it goes down the road on three thousand masqueraders.
FROM THE ROAD
In their own words
Ten out of ten
Two days after Carnival Tuesday 2026, Sameerah Osborne-Pope posted her review and tagged us in it: “My experience with Showtime 10/10.”
We did not ask for it, and that is the point. The costume she is wearing was bent, stitched and stoned at 51 French Street, and the road she is describing is the one we build the whole year for. Watch it in her own words.
Not expensive, not alone
That same day, Sky Bess posted hers and tagged #showtime: “Playing mas doesn’t mean expensive.”
Budget-friendly options and a good team on the road: that is the case for fair pricing in one line, from a masquerader on the road rather than from us. Watch it in her words.
FAIR PRICING
Mas that stays yours
Cutting out foreign production markups is what lets us price a costume for an average household.
Tiered costumes from Male and Bronze up to Platinum, and payment plans that let you chip away at the balance in monthly instalments rather than finding it all at once. Nurses, teachers and tradespeople play alongside everyone else.
A TTD 800 deposit within 48 hours secures your costume. Pay the balance in instalments through Partial.ly or at Mas Camp, with everything settled by 1 January 2027. See what Take Off 2027 costs →
Made in Trinidad and Tobago.
Showtime Carnival — Take Off 2027. Carnival Monday 8 and Tuesday 9 February 2027, from 51 French Street, Port of Spain.
Questions before you register? Message the team on WhatsApp or read Lime, our stories and podcast.