It’s almost time again for the biggest, the grandest, the wildest event on the annual calendar: Carnaval Mazatlán, February 27th to March 4th. The theme for 2003 is “Conjuring Up the Stars,” and it refers not to the heavens but to the silver screen. For those who have no knowledge of what this local event is all about, it’s important to stress that Carnaval Mazatlán is not a fair with rides and cotton candy — although one of those usually visits town around this time. Carnaval is a pre-Lenten tradition in Roman Catholic countries around the world. In some places, these last few days before Ash Wednesday and the beginnings of the prayer and penitence of Lent are observed in a low-key way. In others, like Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans — and also Mazatlán — there are huge and boisterous revels before the sackcloth and ashes of the Lenten season. In Mazatlán, the celebration of Carnaval can trace its roots back to the 1820s. But it became formalized, more or less, in 1898 to include a parade and a queen, and that’s the way it has been celebrated here ever since. The natives have grown up with Carnaval and treat it as almost a sacred rite. Lots of embellishments have been added to the six-day party over the years. In keeping with the literary and artistic traditions that have surrounded Carnaval Mazatlán since the mid-1800s, today writers and painters are awarded prizes for outstanding works. Local judges with expertise in their fields decide the winners of the Mazatlán Prize for Literature, the Clemencia Isaura Prize for Poetry and the Antonio Lopez Saenz Prize for Painting. This year all three prizes will be given during a pageant to crown the Queen of the Flower Games at the Angela Peralta Theater. But before the games begin, the Queen-elect will parade through the streets in a colorful salute to the arts, with a comparsa (marching unit) as her escort, her royal court forming up around her, bands playing and fireworks. The procession will march downtown along Calle Aquiles Serdan from near Zaragoza to Angel Flores to Calle Carnaval to the theater, passing several installations of scenery in the Carnaval theme, “Conjuring Up the Stars” — film stars, that is. The Queen will enter the theater amid a splashy

display of fireworks, will be enthroned to receive her crown, and will look on at a welcoming ballet, followed by the star of the evening, Cuban-born ballad singer Francisco Cespedes. The children of Maz-atlán also have had their day in the more recent years of Carnaval. There’s a children’s ball, a kiddie costume parade and a family-oriented coronation ceremony in the Teodoro Mariscal Baseball Stadium. This event includes big-time entertainment (a recent pageant starred Paulina Rubio) just like the grown-up ceremony when the Queen of Carnaval is crowned. On that score, it’s confirmed that Alejandro Fernandez will star in the Queen’s Coronation Pageant this year. A son of the famous ranchero singer Vicente Fernandez, he’s a dreamboat for teenagers but also widely popular with the general public. He has become a nationally known recording star in his own right, singing both ranchero songs and romantic ballads. Codetur, the organizing committee, has released a preliminary schedule of events that appears in this edition of the Pacific Pearl. As it indicates, you can expect the usual fixtures: two mammoth parades of floats along the Malecón, a couple of huge coronation pageants starring topnotch entertainment, a battle waged in fireworks, a street dance every night of Carnaval in Olas Altas, and a food fair in the Plazuela Machado. Ticket prices for the pageants aren’t available yet, since Carnaval Mazatlán 2003 is still nearly a month away. Probably in the week to 10 days before it actually begins, tickets for the always-popular pageants will go on sale. Best way to check updates on the entertainment to be offered, in English as well as in Spanish, is at the website: www.carnavalmazatlan.com.mx The best place to get reserved seat tickets for the pageants is at the booths for each pageant. They will be set up in front of the offices of Codetur, Avenida Miguel Aleman at the corner of Francisco Villa, on the fringe of Central Mazatlán. Taxi and pulmonia drivers will know where to take you. There, you don’t have to speak Spanish, just look at the seating charts and take your pick of what’s available in your price range. Most hotels along Avenida del Mar offer grandstand seats out front for the parades. You can negotiate those with the individual hotels.