The tempo of the town has been picking up. It’s Carnaval time in Mazatlán. And if you don’t know what that means, be prepared for what’s about to happen. Schools go on vacation. Banks and businesses close. Government offices? As a New Yorker might say, Fagettaboutit! For more than 100 years the people have abandoned all their earthly cares and dedicated themselves to do nothing but revel big time for the six days before the start of Lent. When Ash Wednesday rolls around (on Feb 9), the fun’s over and in this Roman Catholic community, the season of fasting and penitence begins. Carnaval Mazatlán isn’t just big, it’s enormous! It’s said to be the third largest such all-out citywide pre-Lenten fiesta in the world. There are pageants and parties and parades with lavish floats, ornate confections of plywood and imagination that roll magnificently down the city’s seaside boulevard, Avenida del Mar. There is top-name entertainment and dancing, food and fireworks. And a boisterous, nonstop street party in Olas Altas that runs every night until the roosters start to crow. Surprisingly, in the midst of all this mindless diversion, there is by long tradition an expression of the wide public reverence for the arts in all their forms. This is revealed in the awarding of nationally recognized prizes for poetry and literature as well as a more localized competition for Sinaloa painters. All prizes are announced and delivered during Carnaval events. Top stars always headline the splashy Carnaval pageants when the Queen of the Flower Games, the Queen of Carnaval, and the Child Queen are crowned. The Juegos Florales, or Flower Games, is always more oriented to the classical performing arts. This year, on the Friday of Carnaval, Feb. 4, Mazatlan’s own Enrique Patron de Rueda, the conductor of the opera orchestra of Bellas Artes in Mexico City, returns to his home town to conduct the Sinaloa Symphony of the Arts. Patron de Rueda recently celebrated his 25th anniversary as a conductor by bringing a batch of top flight Mexican opera stars to Mazatlán to appear in a free outdoor concert in front of City Hall. Susana Zavaleta, a bubbly soprano who delighted the audience with her antics as well as her voice in that show, returns to take part in the Flower Games extravaganza. Others in the cast of about 180 include the Delfos contemporary dance group, two couples from the Kirov Ballet and the 40-plus members of the Angela Peralta Chorale. An entirely different kind of show will appear as backdrop to the coronation of the Queen of Carnaval on Saturday night, Feb. 5. Always featuring more popular forms of music, the 2005 pageant will star Alejandra Guzman, called the Queen of Rock. Daughter of two major Mexican showbiz figures, Silvia Pinal

and Enrique Guzman, Alejandra has made her own reputation and with her latest album, “Lipstick,” obtained Latino Grammy nominations for Best Rock Album and Best Rock Song. The Child Queen coronation pageant on Carnaval Monday, Feb. 7, will star the up-and-coming young songster Kalimba. A former member of the rock group OV7, he saw his career begin to take off with the recent release of his solo album, “Aerosoul,” a mix of funk, soul, rock and R&B that has caught the fans’ attention in a big way. Tickets for all these events, with top prices at 250 for the Juegos Florales and 300 pesos for the Queen of Carnaval coronation, are available at the offices of Codetur (the name of the Carnaval organizing committee), corner of Aleman and Francisco Villa in the Centro; in a Codetur booth at the Gran Plaza.shopping center; and at the Palacio Municipal (City Hall). Then there are the free or almost-free Carnaval shows: the coronation of the King of Joy in front of the Fisherman’s Monument on the first evening of Carnaval, Feb. 3; the burning of Bad Humor in Olas Altas on Feb. 5, and the fireworks spectacular later that same evening over the heads of the revelers at the Olas Altas street dance. The parades on Sunday evening and Tuesday afternoon also are free to all who care to watch, although it also is possible to pay for a grandstand seat for these hours-long processions along Avenida del Mar. About the only thing missing at press time is the names of the winners of the elections for queens and king of Carnaval this year. But you will get a good look at them as they ride on their royal floats or mount their thrones at their coronation pageants. (For Carnaval upates, log onto: www.carnavalmazatlan.com.mx)