Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony was loud as always. They had a new wave jazz combo with an electric midi violin. They also had an African drum band as well and dancers of all sorts.

As always, one of the favorite parts of the program is the “shout out” from all of the countries (47) who participated. Representatives from each country get to do a video “hello” which they show to all and then they get to amass on stage with their signs. I tried to get a picture, but it’s kind of dark .



The keynote speaker of the opening ceremony was Dr. Mireya Mayor who is a correspondent on the National Geographic series “Ultimate Explorer”. She talked about how she got from where she was, Miami Dolphins Cheerleader” (no joke) to having a doctorate in primatology. Her main focus has been in Madagascar where lemurs are from and her group is credited with finding the smallest primate (a lemur of course) in Madagascar. The lemur is about the size of a small rat and is very cute. She worked with the government of Madagascar to create more area in Madagascar as a National Park to help prevent the extinction of this animal as well as other wildlife found only there.