Arts, entertainment and tributes will take centre stage at Shirley Heights Lookout for ‘Exhilaration’
Plans are progressing for the grand celebration of Shirley Heights
Lookout’s 42nd anniversary, branded “Exhilaration-Made in Antigua.”
Valerie Hodge, the managing director of the venerable homegrown
establishment, says she will be celebrating the persons – present
and past – who saw the vision and were instrumental in the success
of the business, including her late brother Russell Hodge.
“Exhilaration,” to be staged on Friday night, October 27, is a concert
that will showcase everything Antiguan – all the artistes and
performers, as well as the cuisine, Hodge says.
Among those to be featured in the celebration is Halcyon Steel
Orchestra, which has been playing at Shirley Heights Lookout every
Sunday since 1981, when the venue swung open its doors.
Singers Leslie Nanton and Patricia Nicholas; poet and spoken-word
performer Dotsie Isaac; and the Survivors Reggae Band will also
take to the stage.
Other performers will include songstresses Flora Heywood and
Asha Otto and the Antigua Dance Academy’s drummers and dancers.
Hodge says she is anticipating a “glorious night,” adding that she
cannot wait to see the production as it unfolds that night.
She notes that the anniversary will also be used to pay tribute to
Antigua and Barbuda’s three calypso greats and to this country’s
only living National Hero, Sir Vivian Richards, while other
individuals will also be recognized.
According to Hodge, Shirley Heights is taking this opportunity to
recognize and honour heroes who have made sterling contributions
to this Nation over the years, as local people are often overlooked in
favour of foreign investors with large wallets.
In the meantime, Hodge is thanking God that her business has
survived for over four decades in spite of the many obstacles it has
faced.
Tickets for this production of dance, song, theatre, and spoken word
are now available at a cost of $250, and Hodge says they “are going
like hotcakes.”
She says that food, drinks, and dancing will follow the
entertainment, which will be hosted by the 2023 Queen of Carnival
and Jaycees Caribbean Queen, Ischikelle Corbin, with Colin Beazer as
her co-host.
