Wheeeeeeee! Carnaval Mazatlán 2008 is already in progress and it’s time to party. No further business will be done by most people until Ash Wednesday, Feb. 6, so you might as well go ahead and join the fun. A calendar posted in these pages will tell you what’s going on at a glance, but mere words cannot describe the the joy, the noise, the revelry, the music, the gaiety, the uproar, the good humor and yes, at times the impishness of the Mazatlecos during this, their great century-old annual fiesta. Being good Catholics, as most of them are, they’ll be penitent come Wednesday when Lent starts. But right now it’s play-before-you-pray time, and the city’s on a spree. Because Mazatlán’s baseball team the Venados got into the playoffs this year, all the three carnaval coronation pageants that normally take place in the Teodoro Mariscal Stadium had to be moved to the less spacious Salon Bacanora, next door to the bull ring on Av. Rafael Buelna.  Be assured that these pageants are not super-dull affairs. They are lively entertainment with the pomp and circumstance surrounding the crowning of the queens taking up just a small portion of the evening. The rest is a show starring a major Mexican star, usually a top recording artist. Take, for example, the Friday Feb. 1 Juegos Florales (Flower Games). Normally, it’s a cultural evening with entertainment to match the tradition of awarding the Clemencia Isaura Prize for Poetry. This year, though, the pageant promises a split ticket of culture and down-to-earth music. The first half of the show features a fantasy in dance by Delfos, Mazatlán’s premier dance company, with the queen herself involved in the Celtic legend that unfolds onstage. That then makes way for Cuba-born Francisco Cespedes, a popular balladeer and composer, who’s onstage for the rest of the evening. On Saturday, Feb. 2, the lineup of beautiful women seems endless. Participants include not only Olga Rodriguez, who will be crowned Queen of Carnaval 2008 amid storms of confetti and fireworks. Homage also will be paid to Anabella Gonzalez, who was Queen of Carnaval 50 years ago, and to Maria Teresa Osuna and Celeste Ojeda, Queens of Carnaval and Flower Games respectively, from 25 years ago. Add to that a bevy of international beauty queens from the U.S. and Central

America who attend as honored guests of Carnaval Mazatlán.   Once that pageantry is over, the likable singer Manuel Mijares will take over the stage with a range of hits from his dozen-plus albums. He is sure to be the crowd pleaser he was a few years ago when he sang at the same pageant, surprising and delighting visitors from north of the border who were unfamiliar with his work.  On Sunday Feb. 3 and again on Tuesday Feb. 5, the great carnaval parade with 28 fantasy floats will roll along the coastline with the carnaval royalty riding in especially elaborate confections. Sunday’s parade starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Fisherman’s Monument and ends at Valentino’s, while Tuesday’s parade goes from the Aquarium to Olas Altas. You can stand anywhere along the route and watch for free, or pay for one of the grandstand seats at intervals along the route. On Monday Feb. 4 the coronation of the Child Queen of Carnaval is a family-oriented affair with a show usually based on a fairytale or cartoon, topped with entertainment by a recording artist popular with the youngest audience. This year’s star is the talented teen singer Belinda, who garnered two platinum singles last year. Pageant prices start at 250 or 300 pesos for reserved seats, depending on which show you’re attending, and go as low as 50 pesos for general admission to some performances. Tickets for all shows can be purchased at booths in front of the Angela Peralta Theater, at Ticketmaster in the Grand Plaza  or at the offices of CULTURA, Av. Aleman near Belisario Dominguez. Admission to the kilometer-long street dance on Olas Altas that takes place every night of carnaval still costs 20 pesos, the same as last year, Along its length, this site will have 10 bandstands, 30 kiosks selling beer and that many or more stands vending snacks or souvenirs. And what would carnaval be without fireworks? This year, the ship-to-shore fireworks battle commemorating the Battle of Mazatlán in 1866, will be an authentic reproduction, according to the organizers at CULTURA (the Municipal Institute of Culture, Tourism and Art). It explodes overhead at Olas Altas at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2. Then on Monday, right after the Child Queen pageant at around 8:30 p.m., a second fireworks show will splash across the skies over the malecon, centered between the Aquarium and Insurgentes.