New to Mazatlán? Well, brace yourself — you’re about to experience the biggest, noisiest, rowdiest, splashiest, most entertaining event of the year: CARNAVAL! It’s coming this way Feb. 11-16. This wild six-day annual party is either the most fun of the entire year or a nightmare to be avoided at all costs. (Alternatives: leave town or stick to the north end, since the revelry pretty much ends at Valentino’s and adjacent Avenida Rafael Buelna.) The celebration that takes over the town every year just before Ash Wednesday on the ecclesiastical calendar has been going on for 112 years. It’s the biggest Carnaval in Mexico, and third in the Americas after Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans. This time around, Mexico is celebrating the 200th anniversary of Independence from Spain — or at least, the beginnings of the fight for independence. The country also is marking the 100th anniversary of the 1910 Revolution that led to the downfall of the dictator Porfirio Diaz. This year’s theme “Con Fervor Patrio”—with patriotic passion, reflects the spirit which will pervade all of the traditional pageants and parades. Despite complaints that too much money is being spent on frivolity and fun, the Carnaval committee and Mayor Jorge Abel Lopez Sanchez say this will be one of the most outstanding celebrations in memory. They’ve hired topnotch musical entertainment for all of the major shows, insisting that Carnaval Mazatlán 2010 deserves the best. Certain events are fixed by long-standing tradition, with the free street pageant for the coronation of the King of Joy kicking off the proceedings on the first night of Carnaval. This year the outgoing “king” is the entire 18-man Banda El Recodo, that is reported that they will be on hand for the crowning of their successor. Free entertainment goes along with this, usually very Sinaloa music and singers, including a performance by the new king who is likely a popular local banda vocalist. Olas Altas will be the setting for that Carnaval Thursday show, which launches the kilometer-long street dance. Musical groups will be scattered along the route from the Mazatlán coat of arms monument to the plaza where the divers dive. The general revelry here goes on every night of Carnaval from about 8:30 or so until the wee hours. The coronations of other Carnaval royalty (Queens of Carnaval, Juegos Florales or Flower

Games and Child Queen) always involve major shows. These pageants take place in the Teodoro Mariscal baseball stadium which can accommodate the crowds flocking to enjoy top Latin stars. Saturday, the same evening the Carnaval Queen is crowned, the skies over Olas Altas explode in the Combate Naval. This ship-to-shore battle fought in fireworks commemorates the Battle of Mazatlán in 1864, when a small local force successfully repelled invading troops from a French warship. The parades march on the Sunday of Carnaval, going north from the Fisherman’s Monument to Valentino’s and on Tuesday, heading south from the Avenida de los Deportes (Aquarium street) to Olas Altas. At least 30 floats and dozens of comparsas—marching units, will participate. Carnaval Mazatlán differs from other such celebrations: there is something for every age group, for families as well as for adult partiers. Also, this Carnaval honors the arts with events dedicated to painting, to poetry, to literature and music.
In that regard, a pre-Carnaval event called the Velada de las Artes is scheduled for Feb. 6 at the Angela Peralta Theater, where a symphony concert will serve as backdrop for the awarding of prizes to the winners of two Carnaval-related competitions: the Antonio Lopez Saenz Prize for Painting, annually given to a Sinaloa artist, and the Mazatlán Prize for Literature, a nationwide honor for the author of the best novel published in the preceding year. Both contests are judged by distinguished panels of critics in their respective fields.
A third panel of poets and writers judges submissions for the Clemencia Isaura Prize for Poetry. Since the 1920s this cash award has been presented during the pageant devoted to the arts called the Juegos Florales. The queen who is crowned on that occasion receives a symbolic flower from the winning poet of the year. He or she also gets a cash prize.
For young Mazatlecos, there is a Children’s Ball where costumes are judged and prizes awarded. And on the evening of the pageant in which the Child Queen is crowned, there is always a major show starring a personality or group particularly popular with the younger set.
Carnaval has plenty to enjoy. Or not, as you please. Please remember that banks and schools will be closed for at least some of the Carnaval dates, another long-standing Carnaval tradition in Mazatlán.