Adam Smith Square in Port-of-Spain came alive with the in­fec­tious en­er­gy of young mas­quer­aders who rev­elled be­neath the sun dur­ing this year’s NCC Ju­nior Kings, Queens and In­di­vid­u­als pre­lim­i­nary com­pe­ti­tion on Sun­day.

Out­fit­ted in their in­tri­cate and vi­brant cos­tumes, the young­sters grooved to the rhythms of so­ca mu­sic as they re­flect­ed the coun­try’s fes­tive spir­it. As they pa­rad­ed through the streets in their daz­zling de­signs, par­ents and on­look­ers cheered them on. The event drew scores of par­tic­i­pants, some as young as four years old per­form­ing to the de­light of judges.

Ac­cord­ing to 14-year-old Ko­r­rie Cario, her ex­pe­ri­ence has been un­for­get­table. On Sat­ur­day, Cario copped the top prize in the fe­male 14 to 17 cat­e­go­ry with her rep­re­sen­ta­tion of Jardin Fleuri at the T&T Red Cross So­ci­ety Car­ni­val com­pe­ti­tion.

“It has been so good, like the en­er­gy and every­thing it has been amaz­ing from every­one. This year, Car­ni­val has been dif­fer­ent and I love ex­pe­ri­enc­ing it.”

One par­ent not­ed that the Kid­dies Car­ni­val was not on­ly about cos­tumes but al­so a tra­di­tion that brings com­mu­ni­ties to­geth­er and fos­ters the preser­va­tion of the art form.

A short dis­tance away, beam­ing smiles lit up the faces of young ones who par­tic­i­pat­ed in the St James Kid­dies Car­ni­val. And while some young­sters may have slept through the ex­cite­ment, it was clear Car­ni­val tra­di­tions were in great hands, and was shin­ing brighter than ever thanks to these lit­tle mas­quer­aders.